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Wine Recommendation
La Cruz de Comal Wines
2004 Dickson - Pétard Blanc, LD3 Ranch Vineyard(Texas Hill Country)
The Texas Hill Country is like a Petri dish for Pierce’s Disease, so the state agriculture people have been pushing Pierce’s resistant grapes like Norton and Blanc de Bois.
Criminal defense attorney Lewis Dickson is a wine lover who always wanted to make great wines. He recognized that attaining that lofty goal would take some help, so he contacted one of the best winemakers around, Tony Coturri. Dickson brings a determined native-Texan’s ambition (“all Texas and only the best”) while Coturri is devoted to letting the vineyard speak for itself.
Dickson and Coturri are aiming for as close to organic as possible. This wine, perhaps the greatest Blanc de Bois ever made in Texas, is rich and redolent of tropical fruits and citrus -- a gorgeously intense version with a mouthfeel like a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. Dickson and Coturri only made 22 cases of this wine and it is really only available at restaurants. Worth searching out.
Reviewed December 1, 2006 by Wes Marshall.
The Wine
Winery: La Cruz de Comal Wines |
The Reviewer
Wes Marshall
Wes Marshall is the wine writer for the Austin Chronicle where his column turned into the inspiration for a book, “The Wine Roads of Texas,” which in turn has now become a three-part PBS documentary. His never-ending search is for value wines – be they $10 a bottle or $100 – which he defines as tasting better than most other wines at twice the price. As wines become more homogenized, he has been a keen advocate of appellation-specific flavors and aromas, and always marks up for luxurious mouthfeel. |