Big Red Wine Flight for Big Red BBall Clincher
Tonight, we ordered in pizza, pasta, mussels and Italian Sausage and Peppers from Angeli’s Italian, our neighborhood trattoria.
With the hearty meal, we opened a wine flight of Big Red wines, and a crowd pleaser Sonoma Coast Chardonnay.
Walt Sonoma Coast Chardonnay 2022The Walt brand is from Hall Wines, named for Kathryn Walt Hall’s parents, Bob and Dolores Walt. Hall Wines produce an extensive portfolio of ultra-premium wines under the Hall brand, primarily sourced and produced in their two Napa Valley estate vineyards and wineries in St Helena and Rutherford. We’ve visited both, and most notably their magnificent Hall Napa Valley Rutherford Estate on numerous occasions, as featured in this earlier blogpost.
Walt wines are Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, crafted to showcase the terroir, those specific qualities of the vineyards where they are grown.
Winemaker notes - “The 2022 Sonoma Coast Chardonnay opens with enticing aromas of crisp apple, lemon zest, and a hint of citrus blossom. The palate is ripe and vibrant, offering layers of citrus and stone fruit flavors, complemented by a touch of flint. The finish is bright and refreshing, with a lingering note of minerality.”
As I’ve written in these blogposts, this is one of our favorite big bold Aussie Shiraz’s and whimsically shares the Blue Eye’d Boy moniker designation between the producer and us with our son Alec, hence this being one of our family signature wines we keep and have fun commemorating our son and enjoying on family gatherings.
I chronicled the Mollydooker brand and their portfolio of wines in this earlier blogpost.I wrote about Mollydooker and the Blue Eye’d Boy label in more detail last year in the blogpost - Blue Eye’d Boy McLaren Vale Shiraz 2020.
This was rated 92 points by Robert Parker's Wine Advocate.
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate wrote an interesting observation about this label; "Once you taste a few of a producer's wines side by side, you really start to get a feel for stylistic preference between warm vintages and cool ones. I surprise myself by saying here that I prefer the warmer vintages at Mollydooker (this does not make it right) because the sunshine and ease with which ripening can occur in a warmer year really seems to suit the plush, high-octane style being proliferated here. So, this 2021 Blue Eyed Boy Shiraz is far more on the blue fruit spectrum than the 2020 ..."
The key here is comparisons of this same label from vintage to vintage, and contrasting the resulting impact from a warm vintage vs a cool vintage. Such distinctions are best revealed through comparison tastings of one vintage alongside another or others - what is referred to as a 'vertical' tasting (as opposed to 'horizontal tasting' which would be various wines from the same vintage).
This was dark inky colored, full bodied, powerful concentrated, full throttle big round black and blue fruits accented by spice, black tea, notes of licorice and hints of bitter dark mocha chocolate with a long full finish.
RM 92 points.
https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=4404716
https://mollydookerwines.com.au/
As noted above, this is one of our favorite producers that we know well from visits to the estates and our extensive collection of their wines dating back several decades. This is a special label for opening with the kids, since we all visited the Domaine toegether. We discovered and were first introduced to this label during that visit to the Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe. Châteauneuf-du-Papewinery estate during our Rhone Wine Experience back in 2018.
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| Tasting this wine with producer Daniel Brunier at the estate |
Brunier Lynch Domaine les Pallieres "Les Racines" Gigondas 2016
As noted above, we discovered and were first introduced to this label while visiting the Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe. Châteauneuf-du-Pape winery estate during our Rhone Wine Experience back in 2018.
This is 80% Grenache, 15% Syrah – Cinsault (co-planted) and 5% Clairette made from the oldest 75-year-old vines of the estate located around the domaine in Gigonda, the appellation to the north and east of Chateauneuf-du-Pape.
We visited the Gigondas appellation during our Rhone Valley Wine Experience back in 1999.
The area sits about 200-400 feet in elevation, higher than the lower appellation sites lying closer to the Rhone River in the valley, with soils that are a mix of broken limestone and clay. The resulting wines are invariably darker black with more dense and concentrated fruits, more akin to the typically more prestigious Châteauneuf-du-Pape wines.
Dark blackish purple garnet colored, full bodied, complex layered spice-accented black currant, black raspberry and notes of blueberry, baking spices, olive tapanade, herbs, black tea with gripping but smooth polished tannins on the long finish.
RM 92 points.
