Tuesday, March 25th, 2008
Today’s wine of the week is from a long-time favorite producer – Andrew Murray – whose Syrah may have enjoyed the best of all product placements in the movie "Sideways". The producers even worked the winery name into the script, and I can promise you small boutique wineries such as this one get into movies because there’s somebody who loves it, not because they can afford product placement fees!
The Wine
This Grenache is a flirty wine. It loves everybody and everything. It’s a great spring wine, on its own or with foods of the early garden. And while its "Golden Retriever Enthusiasm" grows tiring after a while, it’s often late into the evening, after more than one bottle has been stripped of its cork. And, better yet, it won’t chew on your shoes. You may have a bit of work convincing this wine it wasn’t born to be a room freshener, but then again, you may not want to.
Look for aromas of strawberries, dark cherries and sweet spice note from Andrew’s deft use of oak. The Stelvin closure is now a non-news item, and is no longer a surprise on fine wines. Especially wines like this one, intended to be drunk somewhere between now and three years from now. It is a medium-bodied wine that provides a pleasant and lingering finish.
The grapes for this wine come from the Brave Oak Vineyard in Paso Robles, which charges a premium for their grapes, especially when they are grown to winery specifications, as these were. The grower trims the “wings” of the clusters in the summertime, an expensive technique used to concentrate the fruit flavors as the cluster ripens and not economical in wines of lesser price. Sometimes, you really do get what you pay for!
See you there?!
Dave Chambers, Wine Merchant
Dave@SidewaysWineClub.com
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Today’s Quote
"Think of Grenache as Louis Armstrong or the Beatles. Its genius lies in its ability to make wines that appeal to purists and a broad audience alike." Mick Unti, Unti Vineyards
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