Wine Article
2011 Stefania Nueva Casa de los Padres Special Reserve
Last edited on 12/15/2013 by Grinder
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2011 Stefania Nueva Casa de los Padres Special Reserve, California
25 cases produced, alcohol 14%
A Special Reserve wine in 2011? Of course there is a story! Early on in the racking process we combined some of the Spur Ranch Mourvedre and Coastview Syrah. It was mostly out of necessity as often happens when you're trying to keep barrels filled up. We figured that some of that wine would be destined for the Nueva Casa anyway so we'd start early. When we do blending tests they are semi blind. Paul pulls samples from each barrel and puts a number on the glass and then sticks a piece of blue tape on the barrel with that same number. Stef never sees what comes out of which barrel. We taste each barrel on its own and take notes, then start putting together combinations of barrels.
In every combination, and everything we tried barrel #3 kept standing out. On its own it was best. When we combined it with others, they got better. If we put it with barrel #2, #7 and #8, that was great. If we did it with #1, #2 and #6 that was better than without it. Finally Stef said; "Can we do it on its own?" I could not think of a good reason why we couldn't. We'd eventually divide those other barrels out into the regular Nueva Casa and some into the Haut Tubee, but barrel #3 we decided to keep on its own and bottle it as a Special Reserve.
The finished wine is 40% Syrah and 60% Mourvedre. No Grenache in the blend. Its dark and very spicy on the nose. Lots of ripe fruit in the mouth with wild berry, cherry and ripe plum framed by notes of Herbs de Provence. The wine was aged in a new barrel and shows the softness and richness of new wood without being 'oaky'. Lots of deep fruit on the finish. Will keep and improve longer than the regular Nueva Casa, best over the next 5-15 years.
25 cases produced, alcohol 14%
A Special Reserve wine in 2011? Of course there is a story! Early on in the racking process we combined some of the Spur Ranch Mourvedre and Coastview Syrah. It was mostly out of necessity as often happens when you're trying to keep barrels filled up. We figured that some of that wine would be destined for the Nueva Casa anyway so we'd start early. When we do blending tests they are semi blind. Paul pulls samples from each barrel and puts a number on the glass and then sticks a piece of blue tape on the barrel with that same number. Stef never sees what comes out of which barrel. We taste each barrel on its own and take notes, then start putting together combinations of barrels.
In every combination, and everything we tried barrel #3 kept standing out. On its own it was best. When we combined it with others, they got better. If we put it with barrel #2, #7 and #8, that was great. If we did it with #1, #2 and #6 that was better than without it. Finally Stef said; "Can we do it on its own?" I could not think of a good reason why we couldn't. We'd eventually divide those other barrels out into the regular Nueva Casa and some into the Haut Tubee, but barrel #3 we decided to keep on its own and bottle it as a Special Reserve.
The finished wine is 40% Syrah and 60% Mourvedre. No Grenache in the blend. Its dark and very spicy on the nose. Lots of ripe fruit in the mouth with wild berry, cherry and ripe plum framed by notes of Herbs de Provence. The wine was aged in a new barrel and shows the softness and richness of new wood without being 'oaky'. Lots of deep fruit on the finish. Will keep and improve longer than the regular Nueva Casa, best over the next 5-15 years.