Thoreau Wine Society's blog

A Stunning White Wine from Deep in the South of France

Dear Friends of Good Wines at Fair Prices,

I had the occasion recently to taste a fascinating white wine from a region in the south of France known more for red than white wines: Maury. I usually ask where a wine comes from before tasting so that I have a useful context. If I like what I taste I go about gathering information. I loved what I tasted so I inquired further.

The beautiful label says “Bande de Gypse” which refers to a band of gypsum that runs through the soil in which the grapes are grown. The proprietor of the estate is Manuel Jorel, who has been farming his 15 acres bio-dynamically for a decade. He makes three reds and this one white wine. The wine is made from a field blend of seven local grapes. I will not bore you with their names. This is a hand-crafted labor-of-love wine, the likes of which you will not often encounter.

White wines from very warm regions are often high in alcohol, a bit flabby, and fail to hold one’s interest for very long. But not this amazing 12% alcohol beauty! The aroma and flavors are complex with nuances of jasmine, honey, lime and orange rind. But the most extraordinary aspect of the Bande de Gypse is its texture. The wine literally coats your palate, sinking into every taste bud and
persisting in a way one usually only finds in very expensive white wines. As an experienced taster, I increasingly find the texture--or as it is sometimes called, 'mouth-feel'--to be every bit as important
as the actual flavors of a wine. It is the third dimension of the tasting experience and can make the difference between an enjoyable and a memorable vinous experience. A wine cannot have a commanding texture unless it is made from grapes grown in soil of distinctive character. Mr. Jorel has done a wonderful job of letting the gypsum speak in a way that makes you want to listen intently, as it were. I must have tasted the wine seven or eight times, drawn back to it for
confirmation of the first experiences.

This is a wine you can easily drink all by itself. In thinking about food pairings, fish dishes with lots of flavor come immediately to mind: bouillabaisse, cioppino, paella with shellfish, anything with
saffron. Even curries--which can be murder on wine.

The price is almost amusing given the quality--as you will see. Yes, buy a case. You will want to experience Mr. Jorel’s exciting wine often.

Bob Millman

Domaine Jorel Bande de Gypse 2011

An Invigorating Nebbiolo from (very) northwest Italy

Dear Friends of Good Wine,

Everyone knows of Barolo and Barbaresco, the most famous and important wines made in the Piemonte region in northwestern Italy. The one and only grape from which these two wines can be made is Nebbiolo--which is in quality, significance and temperamental demandingness, the Pinot Noir of Italy. About 100 miles north of Barolo lies a much less well-known yet nonetheless outstanding area called the Alto Piemonte, whose two best growing regions are Boca and
Gattinara. The only grape permitted to be grown in both villages is Nebbiolo, whose local name in this region is Spanna.

One can see the Alps from the vineyards in the Alto Piemonte. Furthermore many bodies of water surround the area, preventing extremes of temperature from affecting the ripening season. As is so often the case with wines with fine potential, it is the soils which determine the aroma, flavor and texture of these sleek and elegant wines. The markedly reddish soils of the hills on which the grapes are grown (called Moraines in local dialect) are rich in iron and other micro-elements essential to the growth of the grapevine. The porphyrite rock contained in these hills causes the acid condition of the soil, which is a peculiarity of this area, whereas in most wine-growing regions (even in southern Piedmont) the soil is alkaline. If you were to taste a Gattinara blind next to a Barolo you would experience this difference immediately. The Barolo will be full-bodied, intense, and noticeably tannic, with an arresting attack on the palate. The Gattinara will be much more delicate with a lively, mouth-watering palate and subtle nuances of dried red fruits, autumn leaves, twigs and wild mushrooms.

Without question the best producer of the wines in the Alto Piemonte is the Vallana family, who were grape growers in the region since the 18th century and began making wine under their name in 1937. They are ultra-traditional from experience and knowledge, not historical rigidity. The grapes are fermented in cement tanks, then transferred to large, neutral Slavonian oak barrels (called Botti in Italian) for 2 years of aging.

The wine I liked so much at a recent tasting is the marvelous 2004, a superb vintage in northern Italy. It is really the bouquet which makes you want to taste and then own the wine. Little darts of pungent yet elusive scents of the skins of dried berries with overtones of tobacco, iron, tree bark and morels seem to appear then disappear. The high-toned acidity on the palate gives the wine the lift and brilliance usually found in fine white rather than red wines. The eloquence of the wine lies in its variety of flavors and textures all playing off of each other with a charming delicacy. Let me stop--I have said too much already. Drink this beauty with veal or chicken, perhaps roasted duck. Decant it for 2 hours and be sure to swirl the wine to release its perfume. Do you sense that I really adore this affordable Italian aristocrat?

Bob Millman

2004 Vallana Gattinara

A Rare Source in Gevrey Chambertin

Dear Friends,

I have tasted so much wine, I should be exhausted with the subject by now, and then there happens these incredible revelations that make the whole thing fascinating again and worth the ceaseless exploration.

Gevrey Chambertin has always been a favorite--from the early days when my red cheeks revealed deep anxiety that I would knock over a glass or say something silly that I kept quiet and made then-discreet discoveries: it is Vosne's regality that has me stand at attention, and Chambolle who knocks me out with her lustfulness. But Gevrey, the workhorse, has most often taken the gold for its complete balance of perfume and structure, and in this case a cerebral, operatic marvel.

I've met Domaine Rene Bouvier's current winemaker Bernard Bouvier a couple of times in Burgundy. He is a third generation winegrower who comes off as an edgy and passionate artisan. Although the American critics generally leave him alone, Bouvier is well-known locally for making some of the better wines of the northernmost point of the Cote de Nuits. A recent tasting of the Syndicat de Bourgogne found this Gevrey the best among 30 others.

Except for this blend which comes from two parcels of 80-year-old vines, all of the other wines made by Bouvier are vinified from individual plots to allow each terroir to express itself individually. Yields are extremely low and never exceed 30 hl/ha and no chemical sprays are ever used in the vineyards. Everything is hand picked. Fermentation of the reds involves a long, cold maceration and a gentle extraction. No enzymes or foreign yeasts are ever used.  They are bottled without fining or filtration and Bernard works well within the dictum of biodynamics. A quarter of new Allier barrels allow the wine slow elevation.

This wine is stunningly perfumed: tea, smoke, reminds me of that French vineyard smell when the farmers burn old roots in wintry fields. The freshness is not lacking but there are such rose-petal and library smells--both earthy and floral, lacy red with discreet spiciness,  no noticeable affect of oak.

The Burghound tasted the wine some years ago when it was in an awkward anaerobic stage--and yet when a wine is 'reduced' we know that 3 years later the same wine can very well spring out of the bottle belting Il Canto. No need to decant at this point, she's a stunner, and a total flirt. I'm totally ready and yet will be delicious in years to come given proper storage, she says.

Rene Bouvier Gevrey-Chambertin 'Racines du Temps' Tres Vielles Vignes 2008

A Superb Southern Rhone

Dear Value Hunters,

I recently had the occasion to taste a gripping red wine from the region of Lirac in the southern Rhone. We do not often hear about this lovely-sounding village which has its own appellation. A mere 6-7 miles southeast of Chateauneuf du Pape, Lirac did not start making wine up to its considerable potential until the early 2000s. We love turnaround stories--who doesn’t? The reds from Lirac are dark, serious and perhaps introverted compared with the friendlier, fruitier wines from the Cotes du Rhone. And this is why I like them. For around $20 one gets a wine with far more lasting interest than is usual at this price.

The wine in question is from a property that goes by the improbable name of Chateau Le Devoy Martine. This is the original name for the property which traces its origins to an Earl who purchased the vineyards in the 13th century. Fast forward to the 20th century. In 1968 two brothers, Marc and Joseph Lombardo, who owned a winery in Tunisia, bought the moribund estate and returned it to respectability. In 2008, Marc’s daughter Veronique left her career in electrical engineering to run the property. Now I call that an interesting story all by itself. Even better news is how good the wines are. Veronique and her father produce five wines. All farming is what the French call 'la lutte raisonnée'--or rational, respectful vineyard management; no pesticides or herbicides; hand harvesting; lowered yields. The vines average 30+ years.

Veronique calls the wine I tasted "Via Secreta", i.e. her own path. The blend is the four principal grapes of the region: Grenache (30%), Syrah, Cinsault and Mourvedre. All these varietals are planted on their own terroir-appropriate sites. Each makes an important contribution: Grenache for fruit and fragrance, Syrah for tannin and darkness, Cinsault for acidity and Mourvedre for spice and attack. From the result, it's clear that Veronique knows what she is doing. I was struck by the authoritative depth and concentration of the wine which carries its 14.5% alcohol with aplomb. The wine really stays on your palate, building nicely through the middle to the long finish. The bouquet is redolent of dark fruits with a hint of what the French untranslatably call 'sauvage'. Believe me, this is good in a Rhone! This is a fall-winter red. Serve with lamb, stews, duck and wild boar, if your butcher happens to have some. This is an excellent wine, pure and simple. At under $18 it is as delightful to the wallet as it is to the senses.

Bob Millman

2010 Chateau Le Devoy Martine Lirac “Via Secreta”

A Worthy California Pinot Noir

Dear Friends of Good Wine and The Good Life,

Not long ago I went to a trade event where I had the opportunity to taste recent releases from wineries I have respected for some time. One of these is a small, highly regarded and, by American standards, ancient estate that goes by its founder’s name: Joseph Swan. A stunning engraving of a swan by Thomas Bewick dominates the labels of all the Swan wines and has never been changed.

Swan, who was raised by a teetotaling family in North Dakota (!) and was a mural painter for the WPA during the Depression, purchased a small farm in the Russian River Valley in 1967, at a time when there was little interest in what has come to be one of the two most fashionable regions in California for making Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. How did Swan manage to beat the crowd by 25-30 years? Independent, insightful men and women do not need the approval of others to take action. For many years the Swan winery was well known for its rich, dense, complex and long-lived Zinfandel--from the first releases, among the best and most serious made in California. In the
early 1970s, Swan asked the famous winemaker and vineyardist André Tchelistcheff for his advice as a Russian River winery owner. (Tchelistcheff was highly regarded for the superb Cabernets he made at Beaulieu Vineyards from the late 40s until his retirement in 1973.)

But Swan's not-so-secret passion remained Pinot Noir. And of course he knew better than anyone that Napa was simply the wrong region for such a refined grape. On Tchelistcheff's advice, Swan started buying Pinot from small growers in the late 1970s. His philosophy was that the best fruit comes from vineyards small enough to be managed by one owner; in effect 'vins gardenieres'--gardened wines. Swan died in 1989. Since 1987 the wines have been made by an old pro, Ron Berglund, a lifelong resident of Sonoma County. Berglund makes Pinots from five vineyards and a blend called Cuvée de Trois.

I tasted four of the Swan Pinots and am recommending his blend from three of the vineyards from which Berglund buys fruit: Greak Oak, Saralee's and Trenton Vineyard. All are in the Russian River, and all have been selling Pinot Noir to the Swan winery since the late 1980s. Berglund has maintained contracts for the best plots with the oldest vines. For example, Saralee's Vineyard is all of 3.64 acres (smaller than Romanée Conti, by the way), of which the best portion--about 1.84 acres--is sold exclusively to the Swan winery. That comes out to perhaps 250 cases per vintage.

The goal behind the Cuvée de Trois is to capture the qualities of each vineyard in a blend which is, in effect, the essence of the Russian River expression of Pinot Noir. And this it does with aplomb.
The Russian River Pinots are earthy, rich and often quite spicy in comparison to the more refined and delicate Pinots made in the Sonoma Coast and Alexander Valley regions. Think Pommard and Morey St. Denis, if you are a Burgundy aficionado. What made me excited about the Swan
Pinots was the delightful underpinning of palpable and true-to-Pinot acidity in all of them, which gives life and lift to the expressively rich fruit of the wine. The Trois Cuvée is a little lighter and less
concentrated than the upper-end Trenton Estate Pinot, yet still a delicious and mouth-coating wine. There is a tendency these days for Pinot snobs to demand ethereal, delicate wines with light color as the only authentic Pinots. This is nonsense in my view. Pinot Noir can be Audrey Hepburn and it can be Sophia Loren upon occasion with no loss of authenticity. The Swan Pinots are dark, fulsome and juicy yet wear their broad shoulders with remarkable grace. The Cuvée de Trois will give you much sensual drinking pleasure.

Good Pinot is never--or almost never--inexpensive (the Becker from Germany a notable exception). About $35 is the floor price for the good stuff. The Swan Trois Cuvée is fairly priced for the quality it delivers. This is meat, fowl and cheese Pinot. Decant it for an hour to allow the heady, sexy aroma to develop.

Bob Millman

Joseph Swan Pinot Noir Cuvée de Trois 2010

An Exemplary Southern Rhone

Friends and Followers,

Back to a French wine (with an excellent California Pinot Noir to follow). TWS readers well know that Mary and I have “French” or old-world palates, no matter where the wine comes from. When I find old-world virtues in a wine from California or Australia and the price is within reason, I will happily recommend it. As my partner in Executive Wine Seminars likes to say, the palate only knows quality, not geography. How true. I feel sorry for people who buy names and numbers. It is a foolish waste of money.

But today I return to France--specifically the Rhone Valley. Like many others with old-world palates,   I have been distressed by the recent tendency of quite a few Southern Rhones to be made with disturbingly high levels of alcohol, which distort every aspect of the experience of such wines. This has been especially true in Chateauneuf du Pape. Fortunately, there are still a number of estates that have refused to succumb to this regrettable giving-in to global warming and the taste of too many wine critics. One of the blessed hold-outs is Clos du Mont Olivet, which makes altogether lovely Cotes du Rhones and CDPs for those of us who do not wish to pass out after consuming two glasses.

The estate has a distinguished history going back to its founding in 1547--exactly 500 years before the birth of Robert Parker, the man who put the Rhone on the American buyer’s map. Clos du Mont Olivet owns over 100 acres in the Rhone, the majority in Chateauneuf du Pape itself. The Sabon family acquired the estate in 1932 and has added to the original holdings in the last 20 years. The wines have unceasingly been made traditionally. The name 'Mont Olivet' refers to a walled
vineyard to the east that surrounds the domaine and features the Sabons' oldest vines. On their website you can see that they abhor the tendency to high extraction which mars so many contemporary Rhones.

The recent excellence of the wine is due to the efforts of 40-year-old-but-looks-28 Thierry Sabon. Thierry is largely responsible for vineyard management and oversees the winemaking. Tasting through five of the Sabon wines--as I did recently--I was struck by the freshness, fragrance and elegance that informed all of them, even the top-of-the-line Cuvee Papet. Thierry has a deft hand and refined palate. How marvelous in this era of vinous bombast.

The wine I am recommending to you is a Cotes du Rhone named for the single small vineyard from which it comes, Serre de Catin. The name refers of course to the soils in the vineyard--sandy marl which is ideal for Grenache. Made 100% from this crucial varietal, the total production each year is less then 400 cases. The price will please you as much as the taste. I used words like “lovely”, “pretty”, “balletic” (due to the delightfully palpable acidity underlying the fruit flavors), “lively and charming” when I took notes. I always go back to a wine I like a few minutes after the initial taste
to verify my first impressions: verified.

Let me finish by quoting from Josh Raynolds' review of this very wine in the International Wine Cellar. Josh and I have been tasting wine together for more years than either of us will discuss publicly. He is an altogether delightful, well-read human being with an excellent palate:

“Sappy and lush, with a silky texture and good depth to its fresh, peppery raspberry and cassis flavors. Shows impressive persistence and energy on the finish, which leaves a spicy note behind.”

Bob Millman

2010 Clos du Mont Olivet Cotes du Rhone “Serre de Catin”

A Recent Exploration of the Tuscan Hills

Dear Friends,

May this be the start of our 2013 season of transcendentalist wine writing. I am back from a European peregrination from Italy up through Austria across the continent and down to Catalonia. I went through a major career change and used this blessed healing time to well, peregrinate and train about. Now back to dust off and begin again. I have a great wine story to start the year:

Along with great spiritual centers (Assisi, Poblet...), majestic gastronomic hubs, cultural acropolises, I certainly visited a few incredible vineyards and wineries. On one such journey, I trained from Florence down to Puccini's birthplace, the city of Lucca -- the glamorous Tuscan hideout for the rich and privileged and their staff and vineyard hands. Lucca is an especially lovely city set against a backdrop of those famously rolling Etruscan hills. The hills themselves, foothills of the Appenines, are part of a wine appellation (or 'denominazione' in Italian) called the Colline Lucchese.  The soils upon these steep hills are teeming with a  mineral wealth of Tuscan marl, calcareous clay, and sandstone boulders. The biodiversity in the forest where I took a reflective morning hike was awakening. I was told that the soils there are extremely capable of handling the earthly vibrations that arrive on account of the juxtaposition of mountains and Mediterranean; (I assure you I can relate to the idea of 'earthly vibrations'). The vineyard's southern exposure, I was informed, helps to maximize photosynthesis in the growing season. There is centuries of winemaking history here in Lucca (did you know that Popes had their OWN sommeliers?) going back to the Etruscans, those funny people that carried amphoras on their shoulders and who are said to have brought wine to the Romans and onto us (thank you).

I departed my train amidst a flock of teenagers who must have been on their Christmas break. The elegant Laura Collobiano, co-proprieter of Tenuta di Valgiano (an estate I wrote to you about in 2008) was there at the station. We took the windy but beautiful zip through town and up into the hills to their villa, which, unlike many cold defunct houses that are associated with wineries, is fully lived in; there are paintings and antiques and children laughing in Italian and dogs barking (in Italian) -- a very special world that exists so far from American life. It was just in time for lunch and the kitchen was warm and full of people hovering over a huge open fire right upon the stove. Amazing. A bottle of their white wine was opened, and there I was, in temporary paradise, holding a bowl of incredibly elegant, rich, soily, slightly aged wine that paired beautifully with a simple lunch of fish and pasta. (The field-blend on the white is 50% Vermentino, 25% Trebbiano and Malvasia, 25% Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc); subtly oak-aged and flinty, rich but fresh -- highly recommended.

After lunch I took a walk through the vineyards with Sevario Petrilli, the viticulturist at Valgiano, and one of the most passionate growers I've ever met. We looked at the dirt in great detail. He took out a trowel and let me glide my hand into the cold moistness. I smelled the herbs and noted the
biosphere; I examined the way the soil clung to the roots of the grass so dynamically, instead of falling away to dust, as happens in chemically treated vineyards. I learned Sevario's keen philosophy on the low density and oxygenation of the soils, a mixing of manure with soil to naturally fertilize, and plenty of fantastic real estate for worms. These are true artisans who have been working with Biodynamics for years, and they have such a passion to tell their story, to share their wines, honey, olive oil. This is not cidery organic wine but pure, excellent and structured. I'm offering both the white and one of their reds, as they are impossible to choose between:

2011 Tenuta di Valgiano Palistorti Bianco -- a fantastic bottle of white

2009 Tenuta di Valgiano Palistorti Rosso -- (70% Sangiovese, 15% Syrah, 15% Merlot)
A classic Italian beauty -- light and red fruit, iodine complexity, subtly oaked.

You will be very pleased.

10% discount on cases of 12, mix and match available.

Felice Anno Nuovo,

Mary

Vinous Eloquence from Rioja

Dear Traditionalists,

I had lunch recently with a colleague in the wine business, Jim Turney. We worked together at Morrell & Company in the first decade of this century. Jim was able to realize his dream of importing Spanish wines to America in 2008 when he left retailing to devote himself fully to his company, Parador Selections. He started with one estate: the Marques de Tomares, an old-world producer of Rioja. Some of you may recall that I recommended the Reserva from this fine estate in late 2010. Two years later I want to bring your attention to the top of the line: the Gran Reserva from the 2005 vintage.

Traditional growers in Rioja (there are still quite a few despite the pressures to modernize) make three levels of Rioja: Crianza, which is almost always aged in older American oak barrels; Reserva, which gets an additional year or two of aging before being released; and in exceptional vintages, Gran Reserva, which is not released until the wine is at least 5 years old--2 in barrel and 3 in bottle. The fruit selected for the Gran Reservas is invariably from the best sites and the oldest vines. There are very few places in the world of winedom where the growers age the wines until they have begun to show the virtues of maturity. Rioja is the last of that rare breed. The Tomares family has made a Gran Reserva in only two vintages since 2000: 2001 and 2005 (and possibly 2008, but that is not settled). This kind of selectivity, if not unique, is hardly commonplace.

The fruit for the Gran Reserva comes from three different vineyard sites in the Rioja Alta wholly owned by the family. Original plantings range from 1948 to 1966. The blend for the 2005 vintage was 90% Tempranillo and 10% Mazuelo, which is Rioja’s Petit Verdot, so to speak. A small amount adds some deep bass note to the more soprano-like Tempranillo. So what does the Gran Reserva deliver that the Crianza and the Reserva cannot? A palpable experience of the deepest layers of the vineyard from which the wine is made. The purpose behind the long aging is to tame the youthful fruitiness and allow the terroir minerality and earthy flavors to emerge. I said to Jim when I tasted the wine that it struck me as multi-layered. The surface of the wine is imbued with cherry, allspice and plum. Underneath the lovely, gentle fruit is a dark, dense layer of terroir. The whole is suffused with a pleasing chewiness and firm yet gentlemanly tannins. It is the complex texture of the wine which makes one want to come back to it over and over.

While the 2005 Gran Reserva is ready to drink, it will hold its own for a decade for those who might wish to age it. I would recommend serving this superb wine with roast chicken or duck or a veal roast. Given the excellence and drinkability of this Spanish gem, the price tag seems more than reasonable. Frankly, a Bordeaux or Barolo of this degree of complexity and maturity would sell for two to three times as much.

Bob Millman

2005 Marques de Tomares Gran Reserva

An Excellent Northern Italian Red

Friends and Friends of Friends,

I take a brief vacation from recommending French wines to bring you a delightful Italian red made from an indigenous varietal, Lagrein, grown primarily in Alto Adige, a region so far to the north in Alpine Italy that it practically touches Austria and Switzerland. There, the culture is more Tyrolean than Italian, and the first language is often German, the way German is spoken in Austrian Villages, with the capital city being Bolzano.

Highly localized, Lagrein bears genetic linkages to both Syrah and Pinot Noir. If I had to make a comparison based on taste, it would be to Cabernet Franc as it expresses itself in the Loire Valley-- but with more body. Like Cabernet Franc, Lagrein always offers excellent acidity to keep the wines lively and engaging. For the foodies among the readers of this blog, you will find that this lovely Lagrein enhances your dining experiences at a reasonable tab. For those who are looking for a red wine with the right texture and flavors to work successfully with Chinese cuisine, roast pork, turkey
during the Thanksgiving period and mildly spicy foods, this is the wine.

This Lagrein is in fact a joint effort from two of the region's best estates: Santa Magdalena and Cantina Gries, which planted its first Lagrein vineyards before World War I. These are high-elevation vineyards--a distinctive and desirable aspect of the best sites in the northeast of Italy. Cool breezes, excellent drainage, deep roots and a long growing season allow acidity levels to stay elevated during ripening.

 

Antonio Galloni of The Wine Advocate described an earlier vintage thusly: "A lively vein of minerality frames dark red fruit, spices and sweet herbs as this mid-weight Lagrein opens up in the glass. I admire the wine's understated yet highly nuanced personality." If I could describe the wine more accurately I would. But I cannot!

Individualistic but in no way eccentric, this Lagrein will repay repeated tastings. At under $23 it is worth being bought in multiple bottles.

2010 Lagrein Perl Cantina Produttori Bolzano

Bob Millman, Your Roving Palate

Navarra?

Dear Friends,

I've taken a long lacuna from my incredibly busy day job and am now free to go back to an idyllic renaissance of writing, thinking, acting, drinking, pondering ... such as how I lived in France when I started these emails.

Today I helped out in the Far Rockaways. A freezing cold rain hovered over a queue stretched endlessly of those waiting for donated coats, coffee, muffins. I made the kids laugh being the muffin lady. It's amazing what simple luxury there is in being warm and fed. Sipping something enchanting while reading fireside seemed miles away today.

I recently imbibed a very fall-weather wine from Navarra. Spanish wine and I have never been particularly synchronous -- except for the creamy but crisp Ruedas and some of those old Riojas. Navarra, however, has such a fascinating vinous history that I am quite frankly remorseful for ere
overlooking the region. In these long days of leisure I have been thumbing through Shakespeare, who refers to Ferdinand the King of Navarre, and so I looked up the history of Navarre -- to find that this region mirrors the Basques, whose wines I love. The vines were planted originally by the
Romans in 2 B.C. and straddle the Pyrenees by virtue of descending slopes down to the river Ebro.

In my lifetime, Navarra, which is the official Denominación de Origen, has been producing mostly bulk wine and rose, but I had hence noticed that the capability of the reds was quite positive. And then I ran into a transcendent wine with a few years on it, and the room stopped.

My friend J.T. opened a bottle of Bodegas Ochoa, located in the walled portion of the city of Olite, mostly of Tempranillo and some Cabernet and Merlot; (we are not far from Bordeaux). Limestone and clay soils house roughly 22-year-old vines. To be a Reserva, the wines calms down in French
oak for a year and is released 4 years after the vintage. The '04 was so complex and accomplished, I wrote something to the flowery effect of: "As the fall leaves descend upon us, the air grows crisp, time for fermentation, winding down, reflection .... This truly is a library wine meant to be drunk among old volumes, leaving the vigorous fruity summery youth behind. We have a wine that has matured into a wiser version of itself, dried cherries, structured but soft tannins, perfume, silk, elegance ...."

Made organically by an independent family owned farm.

Bodegas Ochoa Reserva 2004

Slainte,
Mary