(Rotie Cellars VdP) Hello friends. Today we have our annual holiday-season gift from Sean Boyd, the seventh vintage running where he has granted our list members access to what is otherwise a club-only wine for Rotie Cellars:This began as one of those deals that proves there is no substitute for feet on the ground, for local intel. On just about every trip to eastern Washington, I learn about some kind of cool opportunity for our list members that could never have been unearthed from behind a computer screen, and that was the case with our original (2010) vintage of VdP. But at the time, I thought it was a one-off, some wacky French-labeled bottles originally intended for Quebec. I figured we’d get a little parcel of 2010, and that would be the end of it. But then there was the response. Our list members, to put it mildly, freaked out over that wine. We had originally set an upper order limit of 24 bottles, and then our max allocations ended up being, I think, 4 bottles. Sean sent us every bottle he possibly could, and that was the beginning of something special. Sean just released this wine to Rotie’s club, who, as usual, gobbled up the majority of it, and now it’s our turn. Here are some reminders about this bottling: 1. VdP is a club-only wine for Rotie Cellars. Traditionally, this wine is a little gift from Sean Boyd to his club members: a well-priced Vin de Pays from the same vineyard sources that go into the higher-end ($48 and up) Rotie bottlings. 2. Like with the previous vintages, I’m expecting access to one parcel, one time, with prospects for reorders looking unlikely. Please try to get order requests in by Sunday night, and then Sean will be sending one truckload over the mountains. No guarantees that we’ll have access to future vintages of VdP, either, so if you really love this bottle, consider joining Rotie’s outstanding wine club. 3. Sean doesn’t share the exact vineyard breakdown, but as I mentioned above, these are not declassified barrels. They come from the exact same sites that go into wines like Rotie’s Northern Blend, Southern Blend, Homage, etc. In 2016, VdP is an even split of Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvedre, and it clocks in at 14% listed alc. The nose is very Mourvedre- and Grenache-forward, with plummy fruit and roasted game from Mourvedre, and sagebrush-dotted red fruit courtesy of Grenache. With time and air, this gets brinier and brinier, all Castelvetrano olive goodness. The overall aromatic package is perfumed, evocative, deeply appetizing. And then this is texturally-splendid, with fruit impact aplenty balanced by acid-driven vivacity. Sean always pitches this as a holiday party wine, and the ’16 absolutely fits the bill, with plenty of yum factor for wine noobs and wonderful complexity and polish for the more experienced tasters in the crowd. Ultimately, this is absolutely delicious wine, and one hell of a value. Year in and year out, Sean’s VdP is a total charmer, true to the French Vin de Pays wines it’s based on, just full of character and pleasure, and seemingly born to pair with cassoulets and other stews combining silky legumes and savory pork products. Many thanks to Mr. Boyd for continuing to offer such a fine opportunity to our list members.
By Paul Zitarelli
(Rotie Cellars VdP) Hello friends. Today we have our annual holiday-season gift from Sean Boyd, the seventh vintage running where he has granted our list members access to what is otherwise a club-only wine for Rotie Cellars:This began as one of those deals that proves there is no substitute for feet on the ground, for local intel. On just about every trip to eastern Washington, I learn about some kind of cool opportunity for our list members that could never have been unearthed from behind a computer screen, and that was the case with our original (2010) vintage of VdP. But at the time, I thought it was a one-off, some wacky French-labeled bottles originally intended for Quebec. I figured we’d get a little parcel of 2010, and that would be the end of it. But then there was the response. Our list members, to put it mildly, freaked out over that wine. We had originally set an upper order limit of 24 bottles, and then our max allocations ended up being, I think, 4 bottles. Sean sent us every bottle he possibly could, and that was the beginning of something special. Sean just released this wine to Rotie’s club, who, as usual, gobbled up the majority of it, and now it’s our turn. Here are some reminders about this bottling: 1. VdP is a club-only wine for Rotie Cellars. Traditionally, this wine is a little gift from Sean Boyd to his club members: a well-priced Vin de Pays from the same vineyard sources that go into the higher-end ($48 and up) Rotie bottlings. 2. Like with the previous vintages, I’m expecting access to one parcel, one time, with prospects for reorders looking unlikely. Please try to get order requests in by Sunday night, and then Sean will be sending one truckload over the mountains. No guarantees that we’ll have access to future vintages of VdP, either, so if you really love this bottle, consider joining Rotie’s outstanding wine club. 3. Sean doesn’t share the exact vineyard breakdown, but as I mentioned above, these are not declassified barrels. They come from the exact same sites that go into wines like Rotie’s Northern Blend, Southern Blend, Homage, etc. In 2016, VdP is an even split of Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvedre, and it clocks in at 14% listed alc. The nose is very Mourvedre- and Grenache-forward, with plummy fruit and roasted game from Mourvedre, and sagebrush-dotted red fruit courtesy of Grenache. With time and air, this gets brinier and brinier, all Castelvetrano olive goodness. The overall aromatic package is perfumed, evocative, deeply appetizing. And then this is texturally-splendid, with fruit impact aplenty balanced by acid-driven vivacity. Sean always pitches this as a holiday party wine, and the ’16 absolutely fits the bill, with plenty of yum factor for wine noobs and wonderful complexity and polish for the more experienced tasters in the crowd. Ultimately, this is absolutely delicious wine, and one hell of a value. Year in and year out, Sean’s VdP is a total charmer, true to the French Vin de Pays wines it’s based on, just full of character and pleasure, and seemingly born to pair with cassoulets and other stews combining silky legumes and savory pork products. Many thanks to Mr. Boyd for continuing to offer such a fine opportunity to our list members.Full Pull Club (Almost) Only, 11/23/2018