Ron Siegel Radio Wine Club – March Selections
Ron Siegel and Robert Mott are proud to announce the wine selections for March 2013.
This month’s Estate selections:
As before, since we have wine club members who are White / White, this month we will have 2 white wines and one red for the Estate Selection …
The Rule Cabernet Sauvignon 2009
Our take on this wine …
Another great value wine from Tony Leonardini, son of the owner of Whitehall Lane. Tony focuses on doing appealing wine at a great price. Nice balance with light structure and integrated tannins. Enjoy this wine today!
Appellation: Napa Valley
Winemaker: Tony Leonardini
Vintage: 2009
Varietal: Cabernet with a proprietary blend of varietals
Alcohol: 14.5%
Winemaking:
The grapes for the 2009 Rule were sourced from various locations throughout the Napa Valley, crushed and then fermented separately so we could blend the best lots together in the future. The Rule was aged in barrel on French oak and finished on American oak. The 2009 Rule is primarily Cabernet, plus a blend of our proprietary varietals.
Tasting Notes:
Aromas of black cherries and red raspberries, as well as vanilla and toasty oak. On the palate, the Rule has a silky, round mouth feel and a long finish with mild tannins. The Rule is meant to be enjoyed immediately, but will age gracefully for about eight years.
Margerum Sybarite 2011
Wine Spectator 90 points
SYBARITE is Margerum's definitive Sauvignon Blanc. An amalgamation of all of the top Sauvignon Blanc vineyards they work with. It is crafted from Sauvignon Blanc grown at McGinley Vineyard (38%), Three Creek Vineyard (32%), Grassini Vineyard (22%) and Curtis Vineyard (8%). By blending these diverse vineyards we get bold expressions of Sauvignon Blanc's range of flavors. The result is a wine with remarkable complexity, texture, persistence, and length. SYBARITE is a general term for describing one fond of pleasure and luxury. SYBARITE is derived from Sybaris, an ancient Greek city in southeastern Italy noted for the luxurious, pleasure-seeking habits of many of its inhabitants. It is pronounced Sib-bar-right.
Butternut Chardonnay 2011
Another Tony Leonardini wine that we love for the price to value ratio. If you love big, buttery Chardonnays, then this is your wine. The 2011 Butternut Chardonnay grapes were sourced from a number of different California vineyards to broaden the flavor profile and enhance your drinking experience. The growing regions include Napa, Sonoma, Sierra Foothills and Monterey. Aromas of peach, hazelnut and spiced candied apple leap from the glass. On the palette, Butternut exhibits round, creamy notes of fig, butterscotch and sweet oak. Butternut is like your mother's Chardonnay only better.
This month’s Reserve selections:
Stewart Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa 2009
Robert Parker Rating: 92
Yes, it is another great Stewart wine.
Vineyard Sources: Beckstoffer's Las Piedras (11%), Crystal Springs (40%), Stagecoach (20%), Lincoln (29%)
Clone: 337 & See
Varietal: 100% Cabernet Sauvignon
Aged for 22 Months in 65% New French Oak Wine Spectator Rating 92
Production: 800 cases
Consulting Winemaker: Paul Hobbs
TASTING NOTES
This is a dense, plush young wine with deep, complex flavors and silky structure that expresses
a graceful collaboration between vineyard and cellar. The pedigree of great fruit shows in the dark fruit flavors with not a hint of green herbs or hard angles. The ripe fruit was expertly extracted, bringing out nearly opaque purple color. The exuberant aroma of the wine in its youth shows big, fresh berry notes and hints of smoke, pencil lead and cedar. In the mouth it is rich and fat with intense black cherry and plum flavors carried along by seamlessly knit, powerful yet supple tannin structure. The exquisitely ripe core is underlain with just enough stony minerality to bring balance that lasts into the long, lingering finish. The wine has the delicious fruit and youthful stuffing to deserve a decade or more of bottle age.
Patz and Hall Pinot Noir Jenkins Ranch 2010
Wine Spectator 92 points
Vineyard Character: Located about two miles west of Sebastopol on Pleasant Hill Rd. (in an area known as Sebastopol Hills), the 18-acre Jenkins Ranch is situated on gently rolling hills at an elevation of approximately 400 feet. Once an apple orchard, Jenkins Ranch features Goldridge series gravelly loam soils planted to Dijon selections 667, 115 and 777. These vines were planted under the guidance of renowned vineyard manager Charlie Chenoweth in 2001, and consistently produce extraordinarily small yields. Though the site features cool coastal influences, its location one series of hills back from the Petaluma Gap offer a degree of shelter and warmth.
Tasting Notes: The aromatics for this wine are both inviting and complex with layers of spice, fresh cherry, raspberry, dried cranberry and lavender, as well as notes of clove, cocoa, ginger, a cedar humidor and damp earth. On the palate, the wine shows its cool vineyard roots with initial flavors that are energetic and bright. The tannins, which are sweet, coating and supple, lead to a dense powerful mid-palate filled with red-fruited Pinot flavors that carry through to a long finish. Excellent tension and vibrancy make this wine both structured and cellar-worthy.
Winemaking:
100% Pinot Noir
Multi-yeast fermentations (wild & cultured) 15% whole clusters
100% malo-lactic fermentation in barrel 60% new Burgundian French oak barrels Bottled without fining or filtration
Release Date: March 2012 Cases Produced: 490