Ron Siegel Radio Wine Club – May Selections
Ron Siegel and Robert Mott are proud to announce the wine selections for May 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 …
Willamette Valley Vineyards Founders Reserve Pinot Noir 2009
Our take on this wine …
We found this wine to be a solid, well balance wine from Oregon. Classic Pinot Noir with solid acidity, but more fruit and complexity than is typical in most Oregon Pinot Noirs.
Tasting Notes …
Pretty aromas of dark fruit, raspberry and orange peel open on the nose followed by a hint of leather, cocoa and mushroom. The sip is focused with flavors of cherry, providing mouth-filling sweetness while dominant cranberry flavors provide just the right amount of tartness. A nice caramel mid- palate and fine-grained tannins lead to an appealing and sweet finish
Grape Type: Pinot noir
Appellation: WillametteValley
Clones: Dijon 113, 114, 115, 667 and 777, Pommard and Wadenswil
Soil Type: A variety of Willamette Valley soils including Jory (iron rich volcanic), Laurelwood (windblown, glacial loess) and Missoula Flood sediment
Harvest Date: Sept 26 – Oct 16, 2009
Harvest Statistics
Brix: 21.5° – 25.5°
Titratable acidity: 4.9 – 7.6 g/L
pH: 3.35 – 3.65
Finished Wine Statistics
Alcohol: 14.5%
Residual sugar: 0.1%
Titratable acidity: 6.1 g/L
pH: 3.60
Fermentation: Small Bin
Barrel Regime: 9 months in barrel, 35% new French oak, including Allier and Bertrange forests
Bottling Date: September 2010
Cases Bottled: 1,586
Jean Philippe Brut 2011
Our take on this wine …
Jean Philippe Brut 2011 struck us with its fabulous mouth feel, very small bubbles and classic bread notes. Simply stated a beautiful example of French Sparkling wine that is not Champagne.
This wine comes from the appellation Blanquette de Limoux, it is vintage dated, method Champenoise from vineyards south of Carcassonne, France. This area of France is widely credited with discovering the Champenoise method in approximately 1521 (about 100 years before Dom Perignon was alive).
Mi Sueno Russian River Chardonnay 2008 (2nd White Wine for Estate Club)
Our take on this wine …
Another fantastic wine from Rolando Herrera. This is a classic California Chardonnay with a very small production of 560 cases. Rolando uses 100% native yeast, barrel aged for 11 months in 100% French Oak (50% new). This wine comes from the famous Ulises Valdez vineyard in the Russian River appellation.
Tasting Notes:
From the visual aspect, this wine is reminiscent of 10k gold with platinum rays. Lemon peel, custard, orange blossoms, and guava on the bouquet. Stone fruits, bright acidity and the spiciness of ginger is what you’ll find on the palate.
This month’s Reserve selections:
Kelly Fleming Cabernet Sauvignon 2009
Our take on this wine …
Maybe the finest example of Cabernet that we have seen in the past 12 months. This may be our personal favorite wine and we finally got the opportunity to fit it in The Wine Club. The winemaker, Celia Welch is most famous for her efforts with the iconic Scarecrow Cabernet out of Napa Valley.
From the Winery …
VINTAGE: An ideal growing season that proved to be both a high quantity and high quality crop with an even, steady growing season with plenty of flavor extending hang time, a balance of sugars and even ripening.
VINEYARD SOURCE: 100% estate fruit grown on 12 acres of 300 acre parcel. Planted on 4 rootstocks and 3 clones of Cabernet Sauvignon. Jim Barbour farmed.
HARVEST: September 28 – October 6 2009. Individual blocks were hand harvested at peak of flavor intensity then fermented on skins 3 weeks followed by gentle pressing. Aged 20 months prior to bottling.
VARIETAL CONTENT: 100% Cabernet Sauvignon
NOTES FROM WINEMAKER CELIA WELCH: Lovely sweet dark cherry and cocoa aromas, with hints of smoke, mocha, anise, and forest floor intertwine as the wine evolves in the glass. Forward fruit aromas of warm boysenberries and huckleberries are forward and intense. On the palate, the texture is very full-bodied at entry, with a velvety softness. Sweet, dark, ripe fruit dominates the finish without seeming cloying or syrupy, just very full and rich. Flavors of vanilla, mocha and sweet oak linger along with the fresh, juicy berry flavors.
FOOD AFFINITIES: Grilled rib eye with rosemary, roasted quail with red wine reduction, wild mushroom pasta, Grana Padano an aged cow’s milk cheese 
ALCOHOL BY VOLUME: 14.9 %
BARRELS: 85% new French oak
CASES PRODUCED: 997
WINEMAKER: Celia Welch
Whitehall Lane Tre Leoni Red Wine 2010
Our take on this wine …
We were looking for a great red wine that would provide the right value level to allow us to put the Kelly Fleming in The Club. We found it with Whitehall Lane’s new Napa Valley Red Wine. This wine has tremendous fruit and balance and while relatively inexpensive delivers a big bang for the buck.
THE WINE: The Leonardini Family has focused on expertly crafted Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot since 1993. In 2010 the family harvested specific vineyard lots with a new and exciting wine blend in mind. Not a Cabernet and not a Merlot, this proprietary blend captures the three generations of the Leonardini family (Tre Leoni). This wine is both serious and fun but mostly it’s delicious. It is with great pride, lion’s pride, that this maiden release of Tre Leoni is introduced.
THE VINTAGE: 2010 was the ideal vintage for making this new wine. The cool summer days created an extended growing season that was excellent for flavor development. All of the fruit ripened slowly and evenly from May through the end of September. The grapes were then harvested from select vineyard blocks throughout October as the grapes reached their ideal flavor balance.
WINEMAKING: The majority of the grapes for this proprietary blend were grown in the winery’s six Napa Valley vineyards. The fruit was fermented at an average of 85°F with gentle pump-overs for excellent flavor and color extraction. The wine was aged in two-thirds French and one-third American oak barrels for 20 months. No single grape varietal makes up half of this wine but the three grapes making up the lion’s share of the blend include Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah.
TASTING NOTES: This ferociously fun blend is fruit forward and easy to drink. It’s loaded with ripe blackberry, cherry and floral notes that are bright and silky. It gains some weight and structure from the Cabernet Sauvignon that is balanced by the velvety softness of Merlot while Syrah adds extra jammy fruit. Enjoy Tre Leoni with your next carnivorous meal or when gathering with family or friends.