Discover New Wines

If you've been a regular or semi-regular reader here, I hope you have gotten to the point where you are not drinking the same grapes from the same places anymore every time you drink wine.  In the last seven months, if I hope I've accomplished anything here, perhaps it is getting you out of that mode.

Today, we take a trip to the part of Sonoma County from which a bottle we enjoyed last night emanated. We had no idea what to expect and I'm not going to go into how we came into possession of the bottle. I'll just say that for what we drank, the price was excellent.

We're in an area today that used to just be part of the broader Sonoma Valley. Once referred to b locals as the Valley of the Moon, since 2013, this American Viticultural Association (AVA) has been known as Moon Mountain. We're to the west of the Mayacamas Mountainss on steep slopes where rhe planted grapes face almost exclusively southwesterly. At the highest elevation vineyards from which we have a wonderful view of San Francisco more than 50 miles away, the red volcanic clay soil erodes easily and the land is nearly bare. The southwest exposure provides for intense afternoon sunshine ensuring prodigious red wines. The crosswinds from San Pablo Bay and from the Pacific Ocean serve to stress the grapes.

Today we are visting the vineyard from which last night's wine came. At an elevation above 2000 feet605 meters at the high end of the vineyard, the Cabernet grapes have been planted on extremely steeply sloped terraces facing south and slightly west. The bottom of the vineyard, so to speak, sits nearly 300 feer below the top. Irrigation here is essentially entirely natural and given the recent droughts in the area, that means none at all during growning season. 

The wine from last night was paired with Tuscan-seasoned pork tenderloin from Costco (if you've never had it, unless you have a religious restriction or a dietary aversion to pork, you are missing out), one of the great bargain dinners that takes no preparation. Having a Cabernet with this dish was a gamble, but the gamble was rewarded.

Last night's wine was actually quite herbal and extremely dark. Black currants, black olives, basil, oregano, black pepper, blackberry, and dried fig were all noticeable. The wine was strikingly balanced and had a fairly long finish were some interesting earth tones came through.

No, I'm not going to tell you the name of the wine. I'm not in the habit of plugging individual bottlings here. But, the moral of the story is that branching out with an open mind will give you a new experience. 

Take a chance and enjoy it.

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