Rodney Strong Vineyards

After a bright career as a professional dancer, including a stint at the Lido in Paris, Rodney Strong came back to California and began making and selling wine. First he launched Tiburon Vintners with his wife Charlotte in Sausalito, and later, in 1962, purchased the old Monte Carlo Winery in Windsor. From here he began acquiring prime vineyard parcels, all in Sonoma County, and planted them primarily with Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. With outside investors, the winery, by early this century, had acquired an additional 606 acres of Sonoma vineyards, including some prime Cabernet Sauvignon and old vine Zinfandel plantings.

This wine is bright, fairly opaque ruby, and viscous. It has immediately appealing blueberry, raspberry, cherry, red rose, Australian black licorice, and crème de menthe notes. The entry is smooth and supple, with a nice lift of violet and mint, then boysenberry and cherry fruit, and then mocha. It is complex and layered. Oak comes out with aeration and adds sweet vanillans to the flavour, though tannins are fine and well-integrated. The finish is slightly mouth-puckering and long. Enjoy with lamb shanks with Portobello mushrooms and dried cranberries, or a duck sausage cassoulet.

Reviewed February 27, 2008 by Catherine Fallis.