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. 

https://go.cellartracker.com/wine/4722048

https://terlato.com/s/

https://www.chapoutier.com/en/

Dueling Zin-Syrah Blend for big bold sipping

 Dueling Zin-Syrah Blend for big bold sipping

I was captivated by the peculiar, eerie, almost alarming label ... the whole concept of a gunfight duel at close range. But, then you apply the metaphor to wine and its almost brilliant, two big bold heavyweights fighting it out, although that certainly devolves the concept of harmony and integration or a blend. So it is with Dueling Pistols, a blend of half Zinfandel and half Syrah. One really has to see it to appreciate it, so here it is ...

This blog is as much about branding, marketing and packaging of a wine as its varietal, terroir and resulting flavor profile. Too often, the marketing and branding affect one's purchase decision as much as the latter, the actual wine. 

I saw the label, photographed it, then came home and researched the wine, thought about it, and went back and bought a bottle to try. As I thought about it, this reflects the same tasting profile and character of one of our favorite go-to labels, Venge Scout's Honor, of which we've written about often in these pages. Big, bold, fruit forward, expressive - great for pizza, pasta, burgers - a wine anyone can enjoy - and any provincial or less sophisticated wine drinker will love! Throw in the Venge 'V' and the fun we have serving with our daughter-in-law Vivianna, and you have a 'go-to' wine that we keep around for such occasions. Read more about Scout's Honor in this blogpost - Venge Scouts Honor Trio. and here - https://unwindwine.blogspot.com/2021/02/venge-vineyard-scouts-honor-napa-valley.html.

But a whole brand for this wine, versus just this label? You be the judge. Of course if a judge were involved, he'd settle the dispute and resolve the matter, eliminating the need for Dueling Pistols! They actually have two labels, both the same story and approach - one from Dry Creek Valley in Sonoma County, and the other from Paso Robles.

The producer writes, "Dueling Pistols wines intertwine two competing varietals in a 50/50 blend where each varietal’s fight for power balances that of the other, like the compelling characters that tell the Dueling Pistols story."

This is fantasy! They go to great pains to write a background story setting up the reason for the duel. And go to great lengths to conjure a story about all the other characters on the 'back' label. "No duel is complete without the spectators and everyone has a story to tell. The town physician stood ready, but willing to save neither shooter. The town drunk was there, standing right in the middle, but even he wasn’t about to get between these dueling pistols." 

Dueling Pistols Dual Varietal Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel Syrah 2016

The Zinfandel was sourced from older vines in the northern part of the Dry Creek Valley AVA. Dry Creek is the premier Zinfandel region in Sonoma. The Syrah was taken from vineyards in southern Dry Creek Valley. The Southern Dry Creek Valley runs into the Russian River AVA which is a cooler Pinot Noir region. I wrote about the Dry Creek Valley Zinfandels in two recent blogposts, Kinsella Dry Creek Valley Cabernet 2017 and Ridge Vineyards "Lytton Springs" Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel 2014.

Each block of the Zinfandel and Syrah grapes are fermented separately and then aged for 18 months in French oak barrels (30% new the rest used barrels). The alcohol is a stiff 15%.

The Dueling Pistols Dry Creek Red 2016 is a brand from Terlato Wine Group. Interesting and perhaps notably, there is no record of this label past, later than this 2016.

Winemaker notes: Black Currant, Blackberry, Cherry, Tea, the nose has brooding aromas of dark fruits and black tea with an enticing hint of white pepper. Aged 18 months in French Oak, 30% new. The long ageing allows the two competing varietals to marry well and balance out one another, develop tannin, and build structure.

This was awarded 92, 91 and 90 points respectively by The Tasting Panel, James Suckling and Jeb Dunnuck. Wilfred Wong gave it 90 points and called it 'full textured, delicious... powerful, finely balanced ..." Well, three out of four, perhaps ...  Cellartracker reviewers gave it 92+ points, but the fix is in ... don't trust the results when four of the six are the same reviewer, and one of the remaining two is "The Drunken Cyclist"!? Hah. "See you at dawn."

As the name exclaims - a duel, not harmonious, integrated or elegant - rather almost obtuse and angular, dark ruby colored, full bodied, concentrated forward fruits of ripe sweet blackberry and black raspberry fruits giving way to black licorice, notes of cognac and finishing with vanilla and almost cotton candy sweetness on the full finish. 

RM 89 points. 

At a similar pricepoint, I will opt for staying with Venge Scout's Honor, same big bold profile, but more craftsmanship in blending a more harmonious, integrated yet complex, interesting wine.  

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=3370864

https://www.duelingpistolswine.com/