Le Caveau - Rose Tasting - October 21st, 2011

Le Caveau - Rosé Tasting for Breast Cancer Awareness - October 21st, 2011
Featuring 5 of Le Caveau's favorite Roses.

1) 2010 Domaine du Deffends “Rosé d'une Nuit”
Grenache/Cinsault Blend
This Rosé is pale salmon in color, with floral aromas. On the palate, it shows deliciously ripe fruit with a definite herbal note and crisp, refreshing acidity. The wine finishes with with faint notes of pink grapefruit.
The wine is name after the method of vinification: it is bled off at night following the harvest, as soon as the juice reaches the optimal color.

2) 2010 La Bastide Blanche Bandol Rosé
Mourvedre, with Grenache and Cinsault
Light orange, medium/full bodied with a nose of dried cherry, musky herbs and flowers, plus a hint of white pepper. 2010 bottling is quite rich this year and built to handle full-flavored food. Dry, smooth on the palate.
In the early ’70s Michel and Louis Bronzo acquired the property of the Bastide Blanche, with the goal of producing top Bandol wines to rival their more famous cousins in Chateauneuf-du-Pape.

3) 2010 Alain Brumont Vin de Pays des Côtes de Gascogne Rosé
1/3 Tannat, 1/3 Syrah, 1/3 Merlot
This wine has a pale pink color. The nose shows bright raspberry and a savory note. On the palate, the wine is round and rich with a fresh finish.
Alain Brumont was elected “The best Wine Grower of the 80’s” in 1991 by the Gault Millau and received the Légion of Honor, the highest decoration in France in 1999.

4) 2010 Domaine de Triennes Rosé
Cinsault Blend
This wine is pale pink with peach on the nose. On the palate white peach flavor, some subtle red fruits, and minerals. This is one of those Roses that you have a glass and then another and before you know it the bottle is empty.
Domaine de Triennes is jointly owned by Jacques Seysses, founder of Domaine Dujac, and Aubert de Villaine, co-owner of Domaine de la Romanee Conti.

5) 2010 Château Mourgues du Gres Rosé “Fleur d'Eglantine”
Mourvèdre, Grenache, Syrah and Carignan
With an excellent aromatic length and depth, this vintage displays fresh, elegant and ethereal floral notes layered over aromas of pear and light red fruits, including raspberry and red currant.
The soil of the Costières-de-Nîmes region is essentially composed of alluvium stones from the Alps. Here, the sun shines all year long, ensuring that the grapes reach optimum maturity. "Sine Sole Nihil" (Nothing without sunshine).
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Le Caveau - Sicily & Sardinia - October 15, 2011

Le Caveau - Sicily & Sardinia - October 15, 2011

Marie Ballard of Palm Bay Imports came by Le Caveau to show some excellent wines from Planeta in Sicily and Sella & Mosca in Sardinia.

1) 2010 Sella & Mosca La Cala Vermentino di Sardegna DOC $12.99
100% Vermentino
Pale yellow, elegant and supple, this single-vineyard wine couples fullness of flavor with an underlying acidity. Named for a small, secluded cove fringed by violet colored thistles on the edge of the Sella & Mosca estate. Shows an exceptional affinity with seafood, thanks to the very subtle presence of a natural marine salinity in the wine, due to the vineyard's seaside location.

2) 2008 Planeta Chardonnay di Sicilia IGT $39.99
100% Chardonnay
This has a golden yellow color with lively green glints and an intense nose of peach, golden apple, white figs, meringue and hints of hazelnut. The palate is concentrated, fresh and focused with lively acidity.

3) 2009 Planeta La Segreta IGT $12.99
50% Nero d'Avola, 25% Merlot, 20% Syrah, 5% Cabernet Franc
Explosive aromas of cocoa and tobacco along with mulberry, plums and balsamic notes. The palate conisists of fresh red fruits, with supple tannins and balanced acidity.

4) 2007 Sella & Mosca Cannonau di Sardegna DOC Riserva $12.99
100% Cannonau (Native Grenache)
Bright ruby color, with purple hues, the aromas project ripe red berry, including strawberry and raspberry. In the mouth, coffee, spices and herbs, including an aroma of violets, plummy fruit flavours and aristocratic oak overtone. Full, round, fruit forward, consumer friendly taste profile. Oak aged for two years in large Slavonian casks with several additional months in the bottle. Medium-bodied for food-friendly matchings.

5) 2007 Planeta Santa Cecilia Nero d'Avola di Sicilia $39.99
100% Nero d'Avola
The aromatic profile shows notes of sour fruit and ripe plum mixed with citrus fruit, carob and licorice. The fresh palate echoes those notes with compact tannins and the hallmark acidity of Nero d’Avola.

Le Caveau - Iugum - October 8th, 2011

Le Caveau - Iugum - October 8th, 2011
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2001 Peter Dipoli “Iugum” Alto Adige DOC $24.99
(the only other retailer on the internet selling this wine has it at $48)
70% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon
The Merlot is harvested from mid-September, Cabernet Sauvignon from mid-October and then each grape variety is vinified separately. Both the Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon undergo malolactic fermentation in new barriques. The Cabernet Sauvignon is then aged in new barriques, while the Merlot is aged in second and third-use barriques both for 12 months, after which the wines are blended to make Iugum . After 60 days in stainsteel vats, Iugum is bottled and then released after 24 months in the bottle. Annual production of this wine is only 6,500 bottles.

This vineyard parcel is located on the slope of Magré one of the warmest vineyard areas of Alto Adige. The warm temperature and the soil structure with high clay content determined the selection of Bordeaux varieties to be planted in the vineyard. The objective with Iugum was to produce a great red wine which could be barrel aged and withstand long bottle ageing. Iugum (iou-gum) means “yoke” in Latin and is also used in very early agricultural texts in reference to vines being trained on a support. "
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Random Learning Whilst Tasting:
The 5 Bordeaux Grapes Are:
1) Cabernet Sauvignon
2) Merlot
3) Cabernet Franc
4) Petite Verdot
5) Malbec