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Drinking Windows and Values |
| Drinking window: Drink between 2015 and 2020 (based on 12 user opinions) |
Community Tasting History |
| Community Tasting Notes (average 90.9 pts. and median of 91 pts. in 15 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | Tasted by Wine Gombie on 6/29/2021 & rated 85 points: Color: Ruby purple with fading edges…. getting ready to expire.
Nose: Not a lot there. What is left is a bit of mocha, chocolates, earth, leather with subtle fruits of blueberry, blackberry, dark cassis. We also get hints of unripe bell pepper, balsamic vinegar, and a greenhouse as it begins to propagate. There are definitely some muddy puddles lingering….Yes, lingering.
Fruit: What fruit?? Extremely soft, minimal tannins, subtle cherry, blackberry, cocoa. Not a lot going on here. Lost its prime a good 8 years ago! Flat! Comes, goes & that’s it, folks. Good for the alcohol at 14.5%, don’t expect anything else from this particular year at this point. (605 views) | | Tasted by wconnolly on 6/29/2020 & rated 88 points: Deep, rich and bold. Creosote, ripe berry and a little lavender on the nose. Sour cherry cassis, tea and a bit of a medicinal note on the finish. Full bodied and robust. (749 views) | | Tasted by Jack11211 on 6/3/2016 & rated 93 points: opened tonight, and its still evolving - was fruit forward at first but that dissipated over the first 20-30 minutes and its drinking lovely right now... would love for some of the more subtle leather/earthy flavors to come through a bit more but maybe a little later tonight, we shall see! (2345 views) | | Tasted by winecadence on 2/15/2016 & rated 89 points: Very nice at opening. (1205 views) | | Tasted by libero on 8/19/2015 & rated 92 points: Dark red, aromas of black berries and earth. Well balance D and ready to drink. We had it with Biriami a la Nauab, an spicy, to say the least, Indian food, in which rice is cooked with beef, lamb, shirimp, raisins, Caju, coriander, cloves, almonds, chicken peas, onions, potatoes and a dozen more. Delicious and this wine paired extremely well with this quite hot wine. (2549 views) | | Tasted by emtaylor69 on 12/22/2014 & rated 94 points: A Benziger classic. Great fruity nose, deep intense flavors throughout, and an incredible lingering finish that will make you think you have angels tickling the most discerning taste buds on your tongue. The only critique I have of this bottle is that it is only 750 ml. (2349 views) |
| Benziger Family Winery Producer websiteRed Bordeaux BlendRed Bordeaux is generally made from a blend of grapes. Permitted grapes are Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Malbec and rarely Carménère.Today Carménère is rarely used, with Château Clerc Milon, a fifth growth Bordeaux, being one of the few to still retain Carménère vines. As of July 2019, Bordeaux wineries authorized the use of four new red grapes to combat temperature increases in Bordeaux. These newly approved grapes are Marselan, Touriga Nacional, Castets, and Arinarnoa.
Wineries all over the world aspire to making wines in a Bordeaux style. In 1988, a group of American vintners formed The Meritage Association to identify wines made in this way. Although most Meritage wines come from California, there are members of the Meritage Association in 18 states and five other countries, including Argentina, Australia, Canada, Israel, and Mexico.USAAmerican wine has been produced since the 1500s, with the first widespread production beginning in New Mexico in 1628. Today, wine production is undertaken in all fifty states, with California producing 84% of all U.S. wine. The continent of North America is home to several native species of grape, including Vitis labrusca, Vitis riparia, Vitis rotundifolia, and Vitis vulpina, but the wine-making industry is based almost entirely on the cultivation of the European Vitis vinifera, which was introduced by European settlers. With more than 1,100,000 acres (4,500 km2) under vine, the United States is the fourth-largest wine producing country in the world, after Italy, Spain, and France.California2021 vintage: "Unlike almost all other areas of the state, the Russian River Valley had higher than normal crops in 2021, which has made for a wine of greater generosity and fruit forwardness than some of its stablemates." - Morgan Twain-Peterson Sonoma CountyMendocino CountySonoma ValleySonoma County, California, is one of the most important winegrowing regions in the whole of the United States. Vines have been planted here since the 1850s and, apart from the inevitable hiatus brought about by Prohibition, the county's relationship with wine has been prolific and unbroken.
Viticulturally speaking, Sonoma County is divided into three distinct sections: Sonoma Valley, Northern Sonoma and Sonoma Coast. Each of these has its own AVA title and encompasses several sub-AVAs within its boundaries. |
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