Category: Old vines

Borja, Garnacha, Old vines, Red wine, Spain

Borsao Tres Picos 2008

Vera C.

Winemaker: Jose Luis
Grape: 100% Garnacha (Grenache) Old Vines
Region: D.O. Campo de Borja, Spain

See other wines from this producer:
Monte Oton
Alto Moncayo Veraton

Professional reviews of this vintage:
Robert Parker : 91 points
International wine cellar: 91 points

Named by the three mountain peaks bordering this vineyard, this wine will take you by surprise. I remember first time I tasted this wine and was totally impressed with it. At that time, it was about $14.00 a bottle.I immediately picked it as one of the wines for my upcoming Spanish wine dinner – a when we came to the date, I was only left with few bottles for my wine dinner.
The inventory of Tres Picos was already gone. Sold out.It was very upsetting, because everybody loved the wine and wanted to buy some. That tought me a lesson to keep an eye on values like this one and buy it immediately when the vintage is released.
When I visited Bodegas Borsao, a producer of this wine, I began to understand why. Located high on the slopes of Moncayo Mountains, the old vine Garnacha have to struggle in really rough terrain. Low nutrition soil results in low yields (less than 2 tons per acre).

See my blog about my visit to Borja

But the quality of the wine is so high, it doesn’t need an additional support of heavy oak to get the body and concentration it needs to shine. There are only few thousands cases made for the United States market and they go fast.

The fermentation takes place in stainless steel tanks. Only half of the harvested grapes are aged in French oak barrels for 10 months. The rest is aged in stainless steel.

Despite that the wine shows huge complexity, and incredible balance. It was instant love every vintage, since I first tasted it. A friend just brought me a bottle of the latest, 2008 vintage. I couldn’t wait to open it and I was very impressed, as always, when I finally tasted it.

Tasting notes:
Intense aroma of dark cherries and light aroma of wild flowers. Beautiful, ruby red with purple tones. On the palate it offers you a huge expression of ripe fruit, blackberries or dark cherries, with light dust of cocoa and lovely spice that makes you to longing for more. It reminds me of a really good Cotes du Rhone red.

Garnacha here is incredibly balanced with just right amount of acidity and silky tannins. It’s worth to decant it or at least to leave the bottle open for an hour or so. It will slowly grow on your tongue, as you continue sip it. To me, this is very seductive, clean, elegant and impressive wine with a really long finish. Tres Picos is a wine of ridiculous value (as it always was) and I need to buy some more before it’s gone!

Dry – Off dry- Medium sweet – Sweet
Light – Medium – Full body
No oak – Aged in oak
Retail price: under $ 18.00

Ideal food pairing:
Gourmet sliced pork with Mirasol peppers,  Pork chops with wine and capers, Easy pork chops with onions and pepers, Shish kebab with eggplant hash and Tzatziki sauce, My traditional lasagna,Lamb burgers with relish mayo,and many more options

Old vines, Red wine, Russian River, Sonoma, Zinfandel

Mara Reserve Zinfandel Dolinsek Ranch 2005

Vera C.

Winemaker: Charles Mara
Grape: 100% Zinfandel
Region: Russian River Valley, Sonoma, California

One of my favorite people to work with, Charles Mara, has a huge personality when it comes to wine. Well, that’s not completely true – when it comes to anything. He is funny and entertaining when it comes to wine judging, production or personal presentation of his wines. This Professor of Oenology is striving to make the best possible Zinfandel out of his Napa vineyards.And the results of his “healthy obsession with big wines” are showing great year by year. Never heard of him? Perhaps because the production of his wine is extremely low so his Zinfandels are not found in every wine store.Talking about boutique winery… This small, five-acre vineyard is owned and farmed by Jim Dolinsek and the production averages 350 or so cases of wine. Very low yields (less than 1/2 ton per acre) produces fruit with huge concentration and intensity. Dolinsek vineyard, more than 100 years old, produces variety of wonderful wines, not just zinfandel.Both Charles’ vineyards Dolinsek and Luvisi Ranch are located in the valley that produces some of the world’s best wines. His dream is to produce Zinfandel that “will drink and keep like Brunello” . The intensity and deep flavors are already there. His personal attention to the winemaking process and selection of intense grapes makes it possible.

Robert Parker said about this vintage:
Proprietor Charles Mara’s performance with these two 100% Zinfandels is exemplary. My favorite is the 2005 Zinfandel Dolinsek from Russian River. One of the vintage’s most complete and flavorful Zins, it offers up aromas of red and black fruits, underbrush, pepper, earth, and spice. This rich, full-bodied wine is an amazing achievement in this difficult vintage. Drink it over the next 3-4 years. Rated 91

Tasting notes:
As always, Mara’s Dolinsek Ranch Zinfandel has a deep ruby, almost purple color that you don’t want to spill on your white shirt. Lovely aroma of ripe dark fruit, raspberry and black cherry, even ripe plum on the nose. On the palate it’s a rich, full body flavor with spicy notes like tarragon and a lot of fruit expression.

Dusty cacao or chocolate flavors on the finish, combined with a fine vanilla touch of American oak. This is a huge, masculine wine that needs to be decanted to fully enjoy. Just like Charles Mara always says: decant your wine so that the first glass taste like the last one.

Dry – Off dry – Medium sweet – Sweet
Light – Medium – Full body
No oak – Aged in oak
Retail price: around $ 35.00

Ideal food pairing:
grilled beef, barbecue meats, goulash, Flank steak with shitakee sauce, Beef Chorizo, My best Chili recipe and many more

California, Old vines, Red wine, Zinfandel

Cline Ancient Vines Zinfandel 2008

Vera C.

Winemaker: Charles G. Tsegeletos
Grape: 100% Zinfandel
Region: Carneros, California

See other wines from this producer:
Cline Cashmere

Cline to me is probably the most significant producer of Zinfandel in California.
Fred Cline, in honor of his grandfather, first founded Cline Cellars near Oakley, California in 1982. Here, he preserved and restored many ancient vine sites to their best potential as premier California vine sites.

Cline family relocated the winery from Oakley to Carneros region of Sonoma in 1991 to a beautiful, 350-acre estate. This region, mainly known for Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Merlot was another inspiration for Fred Cline. He planted a typical Rhône varietals including Syrah, Viognier, Marsanne and Roussanne here.

Grapes for Cline’s 2008 Ancient Vines Zinfandel were harvested primarily from Lodi and Oakley. Over 20 percent cames from the oldest, most historic Zinfandel blocks in Oakley, Contra Costa County. These grapes were originally planted by Italian and Portuguese immigrants in the sandy, phylloxera-resistant soils more than 100 years ago. These old vines produce stunning concentrated fruit year after year.

Zinfandel from Lodi (57% of blend) came from historic vineyards along the delta waterways. The rest of the blend was carefully selected from prized vineyards in Mendocino, Sonoma, and Lake County. Individual lots of Zinfandel were harvested separately by hand, as they ripen. They were de-stemmed and very gently crushed, leaving some whole berries in the must, contributing to a rich fruit character.

The “must” (grape juice, skins and seeds) were then fermented in temperature controlled stainless steel tanks to extract rich flavors and excellent color. After the fermentation the wines were pressed and aged in American oak for approximately 7 months.

Tasting notes:
Another rich, concentrated Zinfandel that is worth to try! Bright ruby red color and great aroma of ripe dark fruit, dark cherries and chocolate. On the palate really smooth, pleasant fruit bomb, with soft tannins and big body. Pleasant, bittersweet chocolate finish.

 

Dry – Off dry – Medium sweet – Sweet
Light – Medium – Full body
No oak – Aged in oak
Retail price: around $ 18.00

Ideal food pairing:
grilled beef, Beef brisket with roasted grapes, barbecue meats, goulash, Flank steak with shitakee sauce, Beef Chorizo, My best Chili recipe and many more

Old vines, Red wine, Spain, Tempranillo, Toro

Triton 2008

Vera C.


Winemaker: Amy Leigh Hopkinson
Grape: 100% Tinta del Toro (a local clone of Tempranillo)
Region: D.O. Vino de la Tierra de Castilla-Leon, Spain

Read my blog Another star is born? about this wine

A brand new wine project is a partnership of Jorge Ordonez, Enrique Busto and the Gil family, directed by Amy Leigh Hopkinson, a talented enologist from New Zealand. The winery is located in historic area of the small village of Villanueva de Campean (near the city of Zamora) which should have been included in D.O. Toro, but didn’t quite make it.

Yet the conditions for growing wine are quite similar to Toro. Highly elevated vineyards have the same type of sandy soils mixed with gravel and substrata of clay (6-9 feet below the surface). Bodegas Triton owns total of 123.5 acres of mainly old vines, planted between 1904 and 1965. The grapes sourced for Triton came from 25 vineyards and 51 separate plots, with about 84 acres located directly within D.O. Toro. (the home of famous Numanthia and Termanthia).

The already extremely low yield helps to produce a very impressive, concentrated flavor of the local Tinta del Toro grape. The harvest is done manually and grapes are carefully sorted at the winery. Each plot is vinified separately. Wine aged 15 months in new French oak high quality barrels, from a boutique coopers.

Tasting notes:
Dark ruby red, rich color and beautiful aroma of dark fruit, cocoa and spice. On the palate it surprised me with a notes of black pepper, nutmeg or cloves, mixed with great expression of fruit. Dusty notes reminded me of dark chocolate or great Italian Amarone.

Concentrated and well balanced. It shouldn’t surprise me that this red had an impressive long finish. Sexy and opulent red that is approachable right now. The quality of Triton and its beautiful packaging makes it a serious steel for the money. Although first vintage, this wine made quite an entrance and it’s definitely going to shine. I can’t wait for the first professional ratings.

Dry – Off dry – Medium sweet – Sweet
Light – Medium – Full body
No oak – Aged in oak
Retail price: around $ 18.00

Ideal food pairing:
Prime rib, Fillet Mignon, Beef Bourguignon, baby ribs, anything off the grill like Lamb burgers with relish mayo,  Beef Chorizo, Flank steak fajitas,

Calatayud, Garnacha, Old vines, Red wine, Spain

Atteca 2008

Vera C.


Winemaker: Sarah Morris (Australia)
Grape: 100% Garnacha Old Vines
Region: Calatayud, Spain

Stephen Tanzer score: 90 points

See other wines from this producer:
Garnacha de Fuego

Joined project of Gil family and Jorge Ordóñez in Calatayud. Bodegas Ateca, the producer of this wine, owns 132 acres of old vines (about 60-120 years old vines, located high on the hillsides – 3,000 ft above the sea level.Extreme conditions – elevation, age of the vines and very little rainfall results in very low yield and therefore very concentrated flavors and color in wine. The grapes for Atteca were carefully selected from the best grapes of the old vineyards.

After the perfectly ripe grapes were hand harvested, they went through another careful selection at the sorting tables in the winery. The wine aged 10 months in American and French oak.

Tasting notes:
This wine of dark ruby color improves with aerating. Lovely ripe dark fruit with blueberry tones and spices. Rich, almost sweet flavors of layered fruit is beautifully composed and balanced. Long satisfying finish.

This wine can be enjoyed right now but will improve with 1-2 years in the bottle. This wine can proudly compete with rich red wines from Rhone or California, in much higher price category. Atteca is an excellent value!

Dry – Off dry – Medium sweet – Sweet
Light – Medium – Full body
No oak – Aged in oak
Retail price: under $ 15.00

Ideal food pairing:
Anything from the grill, roasts, steak, barbecue, pork chops, smoked salmon