REVIEW - CHATEAU THIEULEY BORDEAUX BLANC

 REVIEW - Château Thieuley Bordeaux Blanc 2009

SKU: 726194  

Origin: France  |  Bordeaux
Agent: Beverage International Distributor

Well holy smokes guys, I'm finally back on the wagon.. the writing wagon that is. Over the last month I've had the chance to try a lot of different stuff so let's kick this off with some white Bordeaux. This is the 2009  blend from Château Thieuley is 50% Sauvignon Blanc and 50% Semillon. 

In the glass - this wine is a clear, pale lemon colour with just a hint of green round the rim

On the nose - it has a medium intensity floral aroma to it, I could pick out notes of honey suckle passion fruit, guava, melon, lemon zest, peach. I noted that  even though its half sauvignon blanc it had no vegetal or herb quality to it. Just fresh and fruity

On the palate – It was dry, with medium acid. It had a medium body to it; this I found a bit surprising as I didn't expect it to be quite that big, but the two grapes together worked very well together. It had clear green lemon flavors, moving into a tart grapefruit, and  ripe citrus fruit, this was all held together with a fantastic light honey flavor.

I would say that this is a good wine, especially because it retails for around $21 in most retail shops. I would Drink this with any kind of spicy tomato sauce, or some New Orleans style gumbo

If you go to the Château Thieuley website you can read al labout the story of how this very cool family vineyard got started but let me sum it up for you.

In 1950, André Courselle bought Château Thieuley In the 1950's In 1972 His son took it over and started buying more land, they went from 4 to 30 hectares over 3 properties. They are known as Château Thieuley, Clos St Anne, and Château St Genes .  Today it is run today by the founders granddaughters, Marie and Sylvie. Together  they have split the tasks of running a winery, Marie has the technical aspects of winemaking, and Sylvie looks after commercial side. togewther they produce about 550,000 bottlesa year. It's an inspiring little story of family, and tradition in a slightly untraditional way.

Cheers!

REVIEW - 2007 Sequoia Grove Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley, California

 2007 Sequoia Grove Cabernet sauvignon Napa Valley, California

SKU: 740382  

Origin: United States  |  California
Agent: Charton-Hobbs Inc.

This wine is done by winemaker Michael Trujillo who had taken over production at Sequoia Grove in 2002. He used estate grown fruit in this bottling along with fruit from the Tonella Vineyard that they recently bought. He also buys grapes from Morisoli and Beckstoffer in Rutherford, Stagecoach in Atlas Peak, Lamoreaux in the Oak Knoll District and Healy in St. Helena It's a 50 acre prime property in Rutherford. Sequoia Grove is named after one of the last remaining Redwood groves in the Napa Valley and they also boast about being environmentally friendly and sustainable practices, but I couldn't find anything on them actually being organic or biodynamic.

In the Glass – this wine is medium to deep purple, with purple deposits of colour on the legs in the glass

On the nose – It was nicely aromatic, with notes of oak and vanilla, red cherry, fruit jam with lots of cherry, black currant, toasty spice that reminded me of medicinal tobacco,  there was also a back ground of charcoal and chocolate.

On the Palate – This is a dry, medium acid Cabernet. It had good and persistent tannins, with full body, and flavors of cherry, vanilla and iron; like dark green leaf spinach. Coupled with a long finish, it was balanced and delicious. Easily quaffable.

Over all this wine was good, but it didn't blow me out of the water. I would look forward to trying some of their reserves and getting a more focused picture on what Sequoia Grove is trying make with their label

The blend on this is 82% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Merlot, the remainder being Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. As far as location percentage it is all Napa Valley (49% Rutherford, 19% Atlas Peak, 14% Oak Knoll, 12% St. Helena, 3% Yountville, 3% Napa Valley). Clearly a Bordeaux-style wine made in the heart of Rutherford, and a alcohol content of 14.2%, i  would pair this with any red meat, especially grilled with veggies

Cheers!

REVIEW – 2009 BARON PHILIPPE de ROTHSCHILD “MOUTON CADET”

REVIEW – 2009 BARON PHILIPPE de ROTHSCHILD “MOUTON CADET”

SKU: 407551  

Agent: Vincor Canada

In the Glass – clear medium/deep, some sediment, purple tinge but mostly ruby

On the Nose – clean, med to pronounced, red fruit, cherry/berry, and a tinge of pungent, vanilla spicy and herbaceous.

On the Palate – This wine is dry, medium acidity, full of under ripe tannin, greenstone quality, seedy fruit, acidic red fruit and pomegranate. It has a short to medium finish. Not overly balanced tannins as in it goes strait down the pallet with nothing to complex. It’s acceptable, but tastes mass-produced.

Baron Philippe created Mouton Cadet in 1930, taking the name “cadet” from his place as the youngest in his family.  In the 80+ years since its creation it has become the entry Bordeaux wine for most of us. Also note worthy - it gained a Bordeaux AOC classification in 1947 after WW2, and it had actually shut down production completely during war times. Philippe de Rothschild passed away in 1988, leaving his business to his Daughter

This little Bordeaux is a blend of 65% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon and 15% Cabernet Franc. And spends between 6-10 months in stainless steel vats and sees no real oak in its life. I think thats because that would make it to expensive for what the business owner, Philippine de Rothschild, is intending this wine to be. It is a good beginners Bordeaux blend and has its place in our wine markets. I think you would be hard pressed to find a retailer that didn’t have at least one of Rothschild wines on its shelf. And at under 15$ it wouldn't break the bank like most other Bordeaux wines

I would drink with this wine any red meat dishes, but watch for sauces. Something like a peppercorn gravy may over power this one and leave you feeling that it’s a bit watered down.

Cheers!