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Wine Recommendation
Dover Canyon Winery
2003 Bone Lore(Paso Robles)
When you have one very memorable dog on the label, and another very cute puppy as your official winery visitor escort (who also occasionally rolls over on her back and begs for a belly scratch while you’re deep in concentration on one of winemaker Dan Panico’s amazing wines), you often think of wine names that honor the ever-presence of man’s best friend. The story of the dog on the label is legend (but we’ll save it for another day), and the mascot/escort, Rebel Rose, has her cute little face and pawprints all over the website.
This wine is as interesting as its name. It is a reserve selection of vineyard and barrel lots, and is a blend of Cabernet and Syrah from Jimmy’s Vineyard in the Templeton Gap (that would be Jim Jacobsen of Doce Robles Winery), and Malbec from DeBro Vineyards in the Adelaida Hills. All contributing lots were aged for 28 months in new French or American barrels, and then bottled unfined.
What a find it is! Built like a hunting dog, this wine has a fantastic nose, quivering acidity, sleek muscular power, and amazing poise and grace. It opens with distinctive aromas of Cabernet, which yields pepper and plum, then bursts onto the palate with intense flavors of blackberry, black Bing cherry, baked plum tart and baker’s chocolate. The acidity is grippy and fantastic, and the tannins are sleek and racy: all in all, this is a fantastically well-balanced wine.
Bone Lore is certainly a cook’s best friend: it handles everything from rich and beefy to gamey and spicy. This wine seems to love rich food: we particularly enjoyed it with a pot-roasted Angus center cut, slow-cooked with rutabagas, carrots, onions, Serrano peppers and zinfandel, over rainbow chard with fresh tomatoes, and it was dead on target with every sip. You would do well to serve it with a prime rib dinner, complete with bacony potatoes gratin, and/or savory popovers. It’s very limited, so call the winery ASAP if you want some Lore of your own.
(Alc: 13.8%, Retail: $22)
Reviewed December 19, 2006 by Laura Ness.
Other reviewed wines from Dover Canyon Winery
The Wine
Winery: Dover Canyon Winery |
The Reviewer
Laura Ness
A wine writer and wine judge for major publications and competitions around the country, Laura Ness likens wine to the experience of music. She is always looking for that ubiquitous marriage of rhythm, melody, and flawless execution. What is good music? You know it when you get lost in it. What is good wine? It is music in your mouth. |