Old and recent Big Reds with Grilled Ribeye Beefsteaks
We hosted son Alec & daughter-in-law Vivanna and their girls for grilled rib-eye beefsteaks dinner, served with roasted potatoes, grilled mushrooms and onions, which Alec grilled while Linda prepared most of the rest of the meal,
They came over to bring cupcakes and to have cake for/with cousin/grandaughter Lilac’s birthday for whom we were babysitting.
I was going to pull one of the wines from the producers we visited together during our Rhône Valley Wine Experience back in 2018, but I pulled from the cellar a special, vintage aged wine from Alec’s birth year, from that southern Rhône appellation that we visited. We had just tasted this producer’s wines at the SoWal Wine Festival in (San) Destin, FL, featured in these pages in blogpost - SoWal Wine Festival Sandestin.
We also pulled a more recent vintage big red for those not so inclined to enjoy an aged vintage release, and a white to pair with the artisan cheese that Alec and Viv brought.
On their way over, Alec & Viv picked up an artisan English Stilton Blue Cheese at Murray’s cheese-shop inside the local Mariano’s grovery. We have fun with these cheeses ever since we used to visit the original Murray’s Cheese retail shop and adjacent wine bar restaurant on Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village, Manhatten when we visited them when they were living in nearby Chelsea.
I love this cheese selection which provided a perfect pairing with the remains of the Barsac Sauterne we had left over from our neighborhood wine tasting last week in Destin - featured in this blogpost Neighborhood Wine Tasting and Small Bites Gathering.
Château Cantegril Barsac Bordeaux 2019
This is a highly-regarded, unclassified sweet dessert wine produced by the Dubourdieu family, owners of the winery since 1924. The Dubourdieu family also owns Chateau Doisy Daene a producer of Classified Sauternes.
Chateau Cantegril has a 22 hectare plot on the chalky plateau of the Haut Barsac. It is located where once a fortified castle of the same name stood back in the Middle Ages.
Barsac dessert wines tend to provide high QPR - quality price ratios, as more modest variations of the neighboring Sauternes, which tend to be slightly sweeter and richer, and far more expensive, due to the very small yield of the late harvested grapes ‘Botrytisized’ grapes. It is a blend of primarily Sémillon, 65%, and Sauvignon Blanc, 35%, grapes grown in limestone-rich soils.
Fermentation takes place in barrels having separated each sorted pick of each individual plot. It is aged 12 months in french oak barrels.
Fermentation takes place in barrels having separated each sorted pick of each individual plot. It is aged 12 months in french oak barrels.
Annual Production is 30 000 bottles
Golden colored, full bodied, thick unctuous, rich, sweet nutty caramel fruits, with notes of pear, white flowers, ginger and passionfruit, citrus, honey, and spice with balanced acidity.
RM 89 points.
RM 89 points.
We opened a wine from Domaine de Beaurenard whose wine we tasted at the recent SoWal Wine Festival. It is from Chateauneuf-du-Pape, in the Rhone Valley that we visited together during our Rhone Valley Wine Experience (We visited to Château La Nerthe and Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe as the other highlight of our visit to the appellations Châteauneuf-du-Pape.)
The Domane de Beaurenard has been a family run estate for seven generations and is today run by brothers Daniel and Frederic Coulon. The estate includes 80 acres in Chateauneuf-du-Pape and 62 acres in the Cotes du Rhone Villages Rasteau appellation. Robert M. Parker Jr. calls Domaine de Beaurenard “one of the old, classic estates of Chateauneuf-du-Pape. Their two offerings include the dark-colored regular cuvee and the barrique-aged Cuvee Boisrenard…Both are top flight Chateauneuf-du-Papes…”
The winery has a tasting room located on Av. Saint-Pierre de Luxembourg, the main route as you enter the village Châteauneuf-du-Pape from the south.
Domaine de Beaurenard is another Chateauneuf du Pape estate that can be called a true, family affair. That’s because the vineyards have been in the same family for 7 generations. Domaine de Beaurenard dates way back to 1695. At the time, it went under the name of “Bois Renard,” which as you might guess, is where the special Cuvee, used for both their red and white wines got its name.
Today, Domaine de Beaurenard is managed by Frederic Coulon and Daniel Coulon. Domaine de Beaurenard has been producing, bottling, and marketing their own wine for close to 100 years. They began making their own wine at Domaine de Beaurenard in 1929.
Domaine de Beaurenard sits in the village Chateauneuf du Pape. The estate consists of just under 80 acres of vines in the Chateauneuf du Pape appellation, 70 planted to red wine grapes and 10 are reserved for making white Chateauneuf du Pape wine. The vines are located in 25 separate parcels, with much of their Grenache planted in the Cabrieres lieu-dit east of the village.
The estate is classic, typical appellation terroir with clay, limestone, and large stones in the soil. They have old vines, with some of the Grenache dating back over 100 years. Domaine de Beaurenard also owns abiout 35 acres of vineyards in the Cotes du Rhone Villages and 150 acres of vines in the Rasteau AOC.
While Domaine de Beaurenard grows all 13 Rhone allowed grape varieties for use in their red wine, the primary grapes used in the blend are the three required varietals; Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvèdre, plus some Cinsault, and tiny amounts of Counoise, Muscardin, Terret and Vaccarese.
The winemaking facilities were modernized in 2004.
This is their premiere label, sourced from the same estate vineyards and produced at the same winery as their other production labels. We’ve held this bottle in our cellar for three decades since acquiring it upon release.
We visited Lewis Cellars with our wine group during our Pour Boys' 2017 Napa Wine Experience, and, Alec and Viv also visited Lewis during their Napa Valley honeymoon getaway.
This was stunningly good. Dark inky blackish purple, full bodied, concentrated, dense rich, the 100% Syrah fruit explodes in the mouth with flavors of ripe blackberries and blueberries, notes of clove spice, smoke and toast. and spice, tongue coating, chewy tannins on the long finish. Spectacular!
At thirty five years, the foil and label, and more importantly, the fill level and cork were still in ideal condition - evidence of the cellaring conditions for long term aging in our cellar.
This was still in its drinking window although nearing the end as it is showing its age slightly with a slight amount of rust coloration and small bit of funkiness upon opening, which blew off for more approachability on day two. Still enjoyable drinking, it is time to drink up soon, in the next couple of years.
This release was rated 95 points by Wine Advocate back in the summer of 2000.
The wine is aged in three different sized vats, 30 hectoliter foudres, 80 hectoliter truncated oak vats, and 228-liter oak barrels for between 9 to 18 months depending on the wine and the character of the vintage.
The wine is aged in three different sized vats, 30 hectoliter foudres, 80 hectoliter truncated oak vats, and 228-liter oak barrels for between 9 to 18 months depending on the wine and the character of the vintage.
Winemaker Notes - “Made from parcels of old vines (60-90 years in age) planted in terroirs of great personality and complexity. Grapes picked when fully ripe and meticulously hand-sorted for extra concentration. Very low yield: 15-20 hl/hectare. These old vines were planted in a mix of varieties: the symphony of 13 varieties is thus in evidence, but with a majority of Grenache. This wine spends a long time in vats, and is matured in the most traditional ways: no filtration, 18 months' ageing in oak casks, fined with fresh egg whites, bottled and left to rest in the cellars.”
Dense ruby/purple-colored, full bodied, black fruits with hints of black tea, cassis and spice box touch of oak.
RM 90 points
https://go.cellartracker.com/wine/30341
I also pulled a more recent Big Red Syrah for the ladies, less inclined to enjoy the mature, aged CDP.
Lewis Cellars Ethans Syrah 2016
We love this big full throttle style of Syrah with thick, concentrated, rich round fruits. True to the wine profile, it was packaged in an extra heavy glass bottle.
I've often written in these pages about the fun we have with this Lewis branding, with its signature 'L' on the label, ala the sit-com Laverne and Shirley, where Laverne always wore a large “L” on her sweaters, which we also attribute to wife Linda, or her mother Lucy, or our daughter Erin Leigh, or her daughter, our first grandchild/daughter Lucy, and other grand-daughters Lavender and Lilac, when opening it for special family occasions such as tonight
We’ve featured this producer and this label in several previous blogposts in these pages - Father's Day Special Dinner features favorite BBQ Ribs, Syrah and Zin, and Lewis Ethan's Syrah - Piazza Del Dotto Sangiovese, excerpted below.
We visited Lewis Cellars with our wine group during our Pour Boys' 2017 Napa Wine Experience, and, Alec and Viv also visited Lewis during their Napa Valley honeymoon getaway.
We also have fun paying tribute to the ‘Hoosier’ heritage of proprietor Randy Lewis who was also a Indianapolis 500 race driver from our native Indiana, and, their affinity to family, naming labels after their grandkids - Alec, Ethan and Mason. We adopted Alec's Blend as a signature label for son Alec and feature it at family celebrations, we more often than not open Lewis wines for family occasions, such as tonight.
This label, Ethan's Syrah, is made from cooler-climate vines, from mountain fruit crafted from small lots selected from Mt. Veeder and Pritchard Hill at the south end of the Vaca range on the eastern range, and Mayacamas range, respectively, on the western range forming and overlooking Napa Valley in between.
Lewis Cellars Syrah is a nod to the great Rhône wines it's modeled after. It is aged in American oak.
We love Lewis' style of big, spicy, concentrated wines that are balanced, yet full of black fruit and mature, mouth-coating tannins.
This was aged in American and French oak for 19 months.
This was stunningly good. Dark inky blackish purple, full bodied, concentrated, dense rich, the 100% Syrah fruit explodes in the mouth with flavors of ripe blackberries and blueberries, notes of clove spice, smoke and toast. and spice, tongue coating, chewy tannins on the long finish. Spectacular!
RM 94 points.
Winemaker's notes on this wine, "Savory and sweet with ripe boysenberry and blue fruit, lavender, pancetta and white truffle, it exudes an earthy, engaging character. Vivid, clean and focused on the palate, the wine finishes with a flourish of mineral and white pepper."
Wine Spectator also gave this 94 points; "Plush yet well-structured, with luxurious blackberry, mocha and smoky spice flavors that build richness toward refined tannins. Drink now through 2025. — T.F."
https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=3060607
https://www.lewiscellars.com/
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