Showing posts with label Pyrenees Hills. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pyrenees Hills. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 8, 2025

Terlato & Chapoutier Lieu-Dit-Malakoff Shiraz

Terlato & Chapoutier Lieu-Dit-Malakoff Shiraz 2019

Another quiet Tuesday night at home, we settled in to watch our time-phased recording of “The Voice” with a selection of artisan cheeses and bold sipping Shiraz wine - much like last week as featured in this post Long Shadows Sequel Syrah w/ Focaccia & Murray’s Cheese

Like last week, we had a selection of Murray’s and other cheeses, fresh whole berry jams, and fresh cut Chive herbs, with toasted sourdough bread. 


Tonight our cheeses included aged blue cheese, Gruyère, Beemster Swiss, aged white cheddar and aged sharp cheddar, 




For a wine accompaniment we pulled from the cellar this big bold everyday Australian Shiraz.

Terlato & Chapoutier Lieu-Dit-Malakoff Shiraz 2019

This label is from the partnership of two global beverage heavyweights, global wine producer and distributor Terlato and French based global producer Chapoutier

Suburban Chicago based, family owned, Terlato started as a retail store in 1938 and has grown into one of the world’s leading importers, marketers and producers of luxury beverage brands. Their global portfolio includes more than 85 fine wine and artisanal spirit brands from world-class producers in more than a dozen countries and is the leading fine wine & spirits marketer in the U.S. Some of their well known brands include Chimney Rock, Rutherford Hill and Rochioli in the US and I’ll Poggionne, Feudi di San Gregorio in Italy. Notably, they are the exclusive distributor of ultra-premium Gaia wines in North America and the portfolio also includes Champagne Roederer,Joseph Drouhin and Louis Latour.

Maison Chapoutier, founded in 1808, has vineyards throughout France, primarily the northern and southern Rhône river valleys, as well as in Portugal, Australia and Spain and produces iconic brands with over two hundred labels.

The Terlato & Chapoutier partnership dates back to 1987. Michel Chapoutier joined forces with the Terlato family (the company’s American distributor) in 2000. This domain brand is the company’s third project in Australia, and the second domain in Victoria, to the north-east of Melbourne. 

This is a single vineyard designated wine from the Pyrenees appellation in the Western Victoria sub-region of the Victoria wine region of Australia. While Victoria may be Australia’s second smallest state, it’s home to over 600 cellars, the largest number of individual wineries. 

Not to be confused with the Pyrenees region bordering southern France and Spain, the Australian appellation is the most prolific of three appellations in the sub-region, and is home to 50+ wineries that produce over 600 wines. 

The project is in the Central Highlands region in Western Victoria, Australia, about 198 kilometres west of Melbourne, on the eastern slopes of the Ararat Hills and Cemetery Creek valley between Victoria's Western District and the Wimmera in what is known as the Grampians wine region.

The ares’s proximity between 100 -200 kilometres to the Southern Ocean provides a Mediterranean climate with cooling influence during summer.

This label, Lieu dit is a French term referring to a specific part of a vineyard or region recognized for its own topographic or historical specificities, commonly used in Alsace, Burgundy, the Rhône Valley. It is a bit disingenuous for Chapoutier to use it outside of France. 

The Grampians wine region’s primary variety is Shiraz. The region also produces Sparking Shiraz, Riesling, the best performing white variety in the region, along with Chardonnay that can also be found. Cabernet Sauvignon is found in some of the older vineyards, and Pinot Noir is starting to gain a foothold as a straight varietal. In recent years, Italian varietals such as Pinot Grigio (or Gris), Sangiovese annd Dolcetto are making their mark with a growing legion of fans.

The region is know as Shiraz Central in the Victoria Highlands, and it is grown throughout the region in the towns and sub-appellations of Ballarat, Bendigo, Goulburn Valley, Grampians, Heathcote, Macedon Ranges, Pyrenees, Strathbogie Ranges, Sunbury and Upper Goulburn.

Scattered among the old gold mining towns, 250 wineries benefit from long sunny days and cool nights that produce a cool, spicy Australian shiraz, notable for their complexity and finesse.

Terlato & Chapoutier Lieu-Dit-Malakoff Shiraz 2019

Winemaker notes - Deep ruby. Highly aromatic with black fruit aromas (black cherry and black currant) and undertones of dark chocolate, white pepper and eucalyptus. Explosive black berry and black plum flavors with perfectly matched, elegant tannins that give the wine a long, lasting aftertaste. Full bodied and rich. A treat to drink now and will age well for 7-10 years.

This label is widely distributed and can be found priced from $10 in special sales, all the way to $40. At its moderate prices it provides great QPR - Quality Price Ratio for every day sipping.

Dark inky garnet colored, full bodied, complex, concentrated, wild black berry and black currant fruits with notes of earth, spice and hints of black tea, tar, pepper and bitter dark chocolate, with moderate tannins on a long persistent finish. 

RM 88 points. 



Sunday, September 15, 2019

Terlato Chapoutier - St Michelle Cab - Lalande-Borie

Terlato & Chapoutier - St Michelle 50th Anniversary Cab - Lalande-Borie for BBQ Dinner

We were invited to Sean and Michelle's for a gala dinner of BBQ ribs and tenderloin. They also served grilled asparagus, brussel sprouts and baked potatoes. The tenderloin was in a marsala sauce and with a horseradish sour creme sauce on the side.

For the occasion we took a couple wines to match with the dinner. For the barbecue ribs I took this Australian Shiraz from a Southern Rhone producer, in partnership with a Chicago distributor, producer importer. For the grilled tenderloin I took a California Cabernet and a Bordeaux from our recent trip there.

Domaine Terlato & Chapoutier Shiraz Lieu dit Malakoff 2013

Domaine Terlato & Chapoutier is a partnership between Anthony Terlato, founder of importer and marketer Terlato Wines International and Napa Valley vintner, and Michel Chapoutier, the esteemed Rhône grower and vintner whose wines are highly acclaimed and recognized by critics around the world.
 The origin of the Terlato & Chapoutier partnership in Australia dates back to 1998, when Chapoutier told Terlato about a top vineyard site that was available in Australia. The 500 acre site was in the Pyrenees Hills in western Central Victoria. It contained the 50 acre Malakoff Vineyard located on the southern edge of an eastern-facing slope with soils destined to produce “great wines,” according to Chapoutier. The soil profile of the Malakoff vineyard is remarkably similar to that of France's northern Rhône Valley where he produced world class Shiraz/Syrahs and the climate is ideal for growing superior quality Shiraz.

Terlato could not say 'no' to the legendary Michel Chapoutier. They formed a partnership in the Malakoff Vineyard to produce estate wines from the 'lieu dit Malakoff' from Shiraz planted there. The spectacular Malakoff fruit was grown and tended to produce low-yielding (less than 1 ton per acre), high-concentration Shiraz. The wine was made in the Chapoutier tradition and style: unfiltered and unfined and represented what Australian Shiraz can be when made by one of the great winemakers of Syrah.

When wine critic Robert M. Parker tasted the first release, the 2004 vintage, he called it a “lusty Australian blockbuster,” and awarded it 90-92 points. 

The wine was awarded 95 points from Jeff Dunnuck, 92 points by James Suckling, 91 points and a "Cellar Selection" by Wine Enthusiast, and 90 points by Wine & Spirits.

This 2013 release is bright ruby colored, medium bodied, smooth easy drinking, somewhat sweet black berry, sweet cherry with hints of blue berry fruits with some moderate astringency, hints of tea, anise, mocha, notes of  leather, and pepper with a long finish of modest tannins and acidity.

RM 89 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=2438567

https://www.chapoutier.com/en/shop/lieu-dit-malakoff/2014/52

The second wine I opened was this whimsical tribute to Michelle in this St Michelle anniversary special bottling label Cabernet Sauvignon.

Chateau Ste. Michelle "50th Anniversary Edition" Columbia Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2015 

This received 93 points from Decanter Magazine. 

This is a complex Bordeaux style blend of 87% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Merlot, 4% Syrah, 1% Malbec, 1% Cabernet Franc, and 1% Petit Verdot crafted from fruit sourced from Columbia Valley vineyards in eastern Washington including the Cold Creek, Canoe Ridge Estate, and Indian Wells vineyards.


Dark garnet colored, medium to full bodied, rich extracted complex concentrated black and red berry fruits, tightly would with a firm structure that is accessible style and approachable with moderate smooth tannins on a lingering finish. A great complement to the beef tenderloin with brown marsala sauce or the horseradish creme sauce.

RM 88 points.

https://unwindwine.blogspot.com/2017/07/chateau-ste-michelle-50th-ann-special.html


Lalande-Borie St Julien Bordeaux 2016

We tasted the 2014 release of this second label wine while at the magnificent Ducru Beaucaillou estate in St Julien Bordeaux last month. We also tasted barrel samples of the 2016 Grand Vin along with some of the other top rated Chateau and the Saint-Julien 2016 vintage promises to be spectacular.

This second label from Bruno Borie and Ducru Beaucaillou is a blend is 55% Merlot and 45% Cabernet Sauvignon raised in 30% new French oak sourced from vineyards further inland from the Gironde estuary and the estate vineyards adjacent to the Chateau. While tight and closed, it needs a couple years to settle and open, it should prove to also be a wonderful wine with great value (QPR - Quality Price Ratio) in time.

Dark garnet colored, medium full bodied, intense, concentrated, tightly structured, blackberries, black-currant and black raspberry fruits are accented by a graphite stony edge, notes of black tea, bramble, tobacco leaf and hints of spicy clove and cassis with silky fine grained tannins.

RM 91 points. 

James Suckling Wine Spectator gave this 93 points, Jeb Dunnuck and Wine Enthusiast 92 points, and 91 points from Decanter and Vinous.

 https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=2656190