Linda prepared a delicious Lobster Marsala dish with medallions sautéed with creamed spinach and shallots in a Marsala wine sauce, served with mashed potatoes.
To pair with the dish, I pulled from the cellar this unique Blend of White Rhône varietals. As I’ve written often in these pages, an optimal food wine pairing such as this amplifies the delight and appreciation of both the food and the wine.
Carol Shelton "Coquille Blanc" Paso Robles White Rhône Blend 2021
This interesting "Coquille Blanc" label is from producer Carol Shelton, a white Rhone-style blend from Paso Robles. This label was initially created in 2008 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of their winery in 2010.
Carol Shelton "Coquille Blanc" Paso Robles White Rhône Blend 2021
This interesting "Coquille Blanc" label is from producer Carol Shelton, a white Rhone-style blend from Paso Robles. This label was initially created in 2008 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of their winery in 2010.
Carol developed a distinctive ‘nose’ for wine at a very early age when her mother developed an “identify the scent” game using herbs and spices out of their kitchen cabinet. Carol developed a keen sense of smell and became remarkably adept at figuring out new smells as the game evolved. As Carol recalls, “it was probably the beginning of my path into the wine industry”.
Carol enrolled at UC Davis in 1974, initially in an undeclared major with a penchant for language and an aptitude for science. While on a tour of Sebastiani Winery, she was inspired by the scent of red wine and oak in the air, and the power and complexity of aromas. It was then she decided to become a winemaker. She declared her major as Fermentation Science, earning a Bachelor’s degree in Enology.
She was fortunate to gain experience working with legendary winemakers André Tchelistcheff at Buena Vista and Peter Lehmann at Saltram in Australia.
In 1981, Carol began working for Rodney Strong and Windsor Vineyards. Over the ensuing 19 years as winemaker at Windsor, Carol had the opportunity to bottle 45 different wines each year, ranging from sparkling wines to port, to Zinfandel. She was drawn to the unpretentiousness and range of flavors and pursued further exploration of Zinfandel from different growing regions.
In 1981, Carol began working for Rodney Strong and Windsor Vineyards. Over the ensuing 19 years as winemaker at Windsor, Carol had the opportunity to bottle 45 different wines each year, ranging from sparkling wines to port, to Zinfandel. She was drawn to the unpretentiousness and range of flavors and pursued further exploration of Zinfandel from different growing regions.
In 2000, at the urging of Carol’s husband Mitch, she set out on her own, starting her own winery. With her husband and business partner, Mitch Mackenzie, they sought out exceptional vineyards throughout California including Dry Creek Valley, Rockpile, Russian River Valley, Fountaingrove District, Paso Robles, Lodi, Mendocino County, and the Cucamonga Valley of Southern California. She sought out and developed close partnerships with growers to source fruit for her wines that would express the unique terroir of the vineyard.
Carol Shelton was named ‘Winemaker of the Year’ five times, and was named one of eight Pioneer Women Winemakers of Sonoma County in 2005. She has won countless gold medals and accolades for her wines - her 2011 Wild Thing Zinfandel was included in the Wine Spectator’s Top 100 Wines of 2014.
She characterizes this “exotic complex, food friendly white Rhone-style blend as a “red-drinker’s white,” a complex alternative to the more one-dimensional white varietal wines like Chardonnay and Sauvignon blanc”.
As Carol, the producer projected, this was the perfect complement to its namesake shellfish with buttery-cream sauce. Coquille, pronounced “ko-keel”, is French for shellfish or scallop, like the scallop shells on the Shelton family coat of arms.
This is a blend of Rhône Varietals: 30% Grenache Blanc, 30% Roussanne, 30% Viognier, and 10% Marsanne, 98% sourced from the Nevarez Vineyard in the Central California Coast Paso Robles Appellation.
Fermentation Characteristics: 100% barrel fermented, then stirred every Wednesday for 8 months: About 50% finished malo-lactic fermentation.
It was aged 8 months in all older French barrels: 70% oak, 30% Acacia 25% 2-yr-old, 75% older/neutral
Case production was 1069 cases.
Winemaker’s Tasting Notes: “Exotic nose of spicy pears and white peaches, almond paste/marzipan, a touch of honeysuckle perfume. Multi-dimensional (many layers), a hard-to-describe range of aromatics, intriguing, almost mysterious! In the mouth it is crisply dry yet creamy and round and full-bodied, with nice almond paste on crisp-yet-juicy pear fruit. “
This was rated 93 points by Wine Enthusiast, and 92 points Wilfred Wong of Wine.com and Wine Spectator.
The full body and complex full round fruit and spice flavors were a perfect complement to the lobster with the Marsala wine sauce.
This was golden straw colored, medium bodied, complex, bright vibrant but nicely balanced pear, stone fruit and green apple flavors with notes of spicy peach, honey, lemon and honeysuckle and a hint of coconut, with fresh acidity on a lively lingering tangy finish.
RM 92 points.
RM 92 points.
