Del Dotto Cave Blend at Angeli's Italian

Del Dotto Cave Blend and Dalila at Angeli's Italian

With D-in-law out of state for a special sister's bachelorette event, son Alec was bach'ing at home so we met for dinner at Angeli's Italian, our favorite neighborhood trattoria, joined by son Sean, Michelle and g-daughter Lavender. 

I took BYOB from our cellar this Del Dotto Cave Blend to accompany my side dish of Angeli's meatballs, and Angeli's Special Salad. 

Tonight's special dish was Sea Bass with asparagus, tomatoes, basil garlic and prosciutto, with mashed potatoes. 

To accompany the seafood entree dish, we ordered from the winelist the Dalila, a perennial favorite high QPR selection. 

Del Dotto Cave Blend Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2015

This Bordeaux Blend from Napa Valley producer Del Dotto is one of our standard selections for such dinners. Readers of these pages know we have been collecting Del Dotto dating back to their inaugural vintage release in 1993 and still hold decades of vintage release of more than a dozen labels - one of the largest producer holdings in our cellar collection.

We tasted and acquired this vintage release during our Del Dotto Winery Caves Tour during our Napa Valley Wine Experience in 2017.

This Del Dotto Caves Blend label is a blend of 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% Merlot, and 3% Petit Verdot.

At seven years of age, this has improved with some aging and is more integrated and balanced than in its youth and appears to be approaching the apex of its drinking window and profile. Tonight's tasting was the best showing of this wine to date, halfway through a case that we acquired upon release seeming to be more elegant and polished than when younger.

Dark purple garnet colored, medium-full bodied, bright vibrant, nicely integrated and balanced black berry and black raspberry fruits with tangy notes of clove spice and hints of bitter dark chocolate turning to cloying tannins on an lingering finish.

RM 92 points.

Winemakers' notes for this release: "Dark garnet color with a bright bouquet of sweet blueberries, wet rock and fresh cut violets & flowers. Earthy flavors with hints of clove and all spice. This wine has a long, balanced finish with a kiss of oak."

https://unwindwine.blogspot.com/2017/08/del-dotto-napa-valley-cave-tour-barrel_12.html

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=2381300

http://www.deldottovineyards.com/

@DelDottoWine 

Previous tasting notes:

https://unwindwine.blogspot.com/2020/07/del-dotto-napa-valley-cave-blend-2015.html

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=2381300

6/2021 - I like this wine: 92 Points 

Even better than earlier tastings, more vibrant and expressive than I remember. Dark purple garnet colored, medium-full bodied, bright vibrant, nicely integrated and balanced black berry and black raspberry fruits with tangy notes of clove spice with a layer of sweet oak and mocha chocolate turning to cloying tannins on an lingering finish.

https://unwindwine.blogspot.com/2020/07/del-dotto-napa-valley-cave-blend-2015.html

7/24/2020 - I like this wine: 91 Points 

At five years of age, this has improved with some aging and is more integrated and balanced than in its youth. Dark purple garnet colored, medium-full bodied, bright vibrant, nicely integrated and balanced black berry and black raspberry fruits with tangy notes of clove spice and hints of bitter dark chocolate turning to cloying tannins on an lingering finish. 

https://unwindwine.blogspot.com/2020/07/del-dotto-napa-valley-cave-blend-2015.html

With the Sea Bass we ordered this Dalila white blend. 

Stemmari Dalila Sicilia Viognier Grillo DOC Blend 2020

This wine finds its way to the Angeli's winelist as a result of owner Tony Angeli having visited the Feudo Arancio Stemmari winery estate during his visit to the region a couple years ago.

This wine is from the historic Stemmari winery located in the town of Acate in the Ragusa province of Sicily located in south eastern Sicily. The winery has 1,700 acres in two estates along the south coast of Sicily, one in Sambuca di Sicilia in the Agrigento province and the other in Acate in the province of Ragusa.

 

The vast Stemmari brand has a broad portfolio of wines include single varietals like nero d’avola, chardonnay, pinot grigio, moscato, pinot noir, cabernet sauvignon and even a sparkling grillo. They offer a few blends including this Dalila wine.

 

This unique blend is comprised of the Sicilian varietal Grillo and the international Viognier, native to the French Rhone River valley. The local indigenous wine grape "grillo" – which means "cricket" in Italian. This Sicilian white wine is composed of 80 percent Grillo and 20 percent Viognier.  

 

The interesting branding of music as a metaphor for the harmonizing of the two elegant varietals in the Dalila blend with musical notes on the label and on the bottle foil.

Tonight they were serving the 2020 vintage release label. This is the forth vintage they've served this wine. This continues to be a sensational and a very pleasant surprise discovery. Its available at a price point that provides great QPR - Quality Price Ratio.  We enjoyed this discovery such that we went out and special ordered some from a local merchant to have in our cellar for enjoyable casual sipping.

 

This release was awarded 90 points by Wine Enthusiast. 

Consistent with earlier releases and tastings. Golden straw colored, medium-full bodied, nicely balanced acidity and smooth mouthfeel with intense, bright vibrant, nicely integrated floral and tropical fruits with notes of pear and hints of peach, mango and citrus with hints of vanilla, floral and stone fruits with bight acidity on a character and profile of Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc.

RM 91 points.

https://www.stemmari.it/en-us/products/selections/dalila

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=3521489

https://www.feudoarancio.it