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MEADOWLARK.
Just a short note letting you in on a sweet little wine deal. 2005 was an enormous vintage for California winemakers. In a few weeks time we will release our fair share of stunning Cabernet based wines. These wines are hands down some of my favorite Larkmead wines to date. And I was fortunate enough to finish and bottle them. 2005 was a cool weather vintage, more Bordeaux-like than the blistering, berry ripening, sun drenched days Napa Valley is accustomed to. The cool vintage year helped produce wines of excellent subtleness. Elegant and supple wines. Aged but not tired. Sophisticated wines. Adult wines. True complements to food and not a meal unto themselves. 2005 was also the first vintage Larkmead produced Syrah. As you may know, Andy Smith (winemaker, my boss) has had his fare share of success making Syrah in the cool coastal climate of Sonoma. DuMOL Syrah wines are "full-bodied, rich, flavor filled and intense" as Robert Parker said as he rated his "Eddie's Patch" and "Jack Robert's Run" from 2003 and 2004 95 points. At Larkmead the Syrah tends to be more of the Cote Rotie style, a little more of the sun burning through the shallow soils type of wine. Because of the excess, as noted above, Larkmead decided to throw their cards on the table with a "second label" called Meadowlark. The birds themselves were the inspiration for the naming of Lillie Hitchcock Coit's Napa Valley estate in the early 1870's. When the winery and vineyard changed hands thereafter, the man who presided over the wine growing operations for nearly 60 years was asked what happened to all the Meadowlarks. In true Italian fashion, Felix Salmina answered, "we're Italian, we caught and cooked 'em and ate 'em with Polenta." So, in honor of our winemaking ancestors, we decided to produce this exciting little effort - a Cabernet (73%), Syrah (27%) blend. An unusual mix, but stunning as the wines integrated and harmonized in American Oak for 17 months. There was a great deal of trepidation with this wine when it was bottled, but it is truly showing itself brilliantly. Soft and easy to drink, it sings of cassis and cured meat. But that's my story. And the folks at Wine Library in New Jersey loved it and the wine itself, so much that they bought up 30% of our 1,800 case production. The Wine Library is putting some effort behind the wine, with home page prominence, e-mail blasts and ex-Michigan St. hockey player and NY/NJ Jets' fan Gary Vaynerchuk's in your face video commentary. I have to laugh, and hope you do to, all the way to the website or the store. Turkey day is coming and this is the bird wine. Meadowlark video.... http://winelibrary.com/reviewwine.asp?item=34117 Thanks and enjoy....
Post - October'07 Back to home...
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