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Wine Recommendation
Leal Estate Vineyards
2004 "Threesome" Rhone Style Blend, Unfiltered, Estate(San Benito)
The folks at this Hollister (northern end of California’s central coast) winery were no doubt thinking about a ménage à trios when they put this Rhône-style red together. A look at Léal’s tasting notes reveals a lot more than accent aigus and accent graves. They call this threesome “risqué” with the word “sexy” arising a couple of times.
What this Syrah, Grenache, Mourvèdre blend really is, is damned good. There is minerality, perhaps from the traces of limestone in and around San Benito County, which manifests in aromas of rainwater. The wine is big, bright and bold with some earth notes. In the end, it’s brawny and tannic and needs a lot more time to come around; and I think it will. Hold onto it for about three years if you can, and then drink it over the next dozen years.
The wine was aged for 16 months in cooperage from two little-known forests, Chalufour near Cognac and Jupilles on the edge of the Loire near LeMans. The listed alcohol is 14.1 percent and there were 1,268 cases produced.
Reviewed January 16, 2007 by Alan Goldfarb.
Other reviewed wines from Leal Estate Vineyards
The Wine
Winery: Leal Estate Vineyards |
The Reviewer
Alan Goldfarb
Alan Goldfarb has been writing about and reviewing wine for 17 years. His reviews have been published in the St. Helena Star, San Jose Mercury, San Francisco Examiner, Decanter, and Wine Enthusiast, among others. Not once has he used a point system, star system, or an iconic symbol to quantify a wine. What counts in Mr. Goldfarb’s criteria when judging a wine is: how it tastes in the glass; is it well-constructed; its food compatibility; and presence of redeeming regional attributes. |