Pizza and Big Red for USA Watch Party
We gathered at son Alec’s to watch the USA in the World Cup. Alec ordered in pizza’s from Freedom Brother’s in Naperville. I took from our home cellar a favorite big red ‘pizza wine’ for the occasion. Before pizza they served salad and triple cream Brie and Carmella Gouda artisan cheeses.
We’re long time fans of Venge wines dating back three decades. This big red blend is named for the family golden retriever who used to roam the vineyards. This is a mainstay of our cellar that we keep on hand for such occasions. We have a half dozen vintages of this label in our cellar, drinking and cycling the oldest, replacing it as we go with the latest current release.
Since 2018, current releases are the new branding of a painted wine bottle as opposed to the more traditional and modest glued paper label.
This wine is based on a tradition of producing a full bodied, robust, fruit filled red wine based on old-vine Zinfandel and blended with dry-farmed Petite Sirah, old-vine Charbono, and finished with mountain vineyard Syrah.
Earlier release winemaker notes suggest “The result is an unpretentious, generous mouthful of red wine that we recommend be opened and enjoyed immediately upon release.”
The 2019 Scout's Honor is a blend of 63% Zinfandel, 16% Charbono,12% Petite Sirah and 9% Syrah.
This release was barrel aged for 14 months in 50% new American Oak and the balance in once used tight grain French Oak.
Grapes were farmed and harvested from four single vineyards in Napa Valley. The Zinfandel was picked from two, old-vine (60 to 100+ years old), dry-farmed vineyard sources: Venge’s newly acquired “Signal Fire Vineyard” estate, and the Frediani Vineyard—both located in the heart of Calistoga. The Charbono is from old, dry-farmed vines (60 to 100+ years old) also planted in the Frediani Vineyard. Robbie Mondavi’s Oso Vineyard located on Howell Mountain supplies the Petite Sirah; the Syrah from Napa’s finest, from Stagecoach Vineyard, high in the mountains of the Atlas Peak AVA.
Winemaker Notes - “The small, individual lots of fruit were destemmed into a combination of stainless steel tanks and open top fermenters, where whole-berry fermentation took place for an average of 20 days. No conventional pumps were used in the making of this wine. Only diaphragm air pumps, forced air pressure movement, or bulldogging, and transfers by gravity were employed to preserve the pure fruit integrity in the wine.”
This release was rated 93 points by Wine Enthusiast and 90 points by Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
This is always a crowd pleaser, great with hearty cheeses, BBQ, tangy pasta or pizza.
Dark inky purple colored, full bodied, rich concentrated brambly ripe black berry and black raspberry fruits, spicy tobacco, dusty earth, hints of anise and black pepper and toasted oak with chewy gripping tannins on a long lingering tongue puckering finish.
RM 93 points.
https://www.cellartracker.com/w?3922323
https://www.vengevineyards.com/
