Wine of the Week, 1/13/02 -- Presidio Winery 1999 Merlot, Unfiltered, Santa Barbara County
Jan 13 '02
The Bottom Line A pleasant surprise. A very nice handcrafted Merlot from Santa Barbara County, California.
January 13, 2002 -- My "Wine of the Week selection is a handcrafted Merlot from a small winery in Santa Barbara County, California: Presidio Winery (not listed in the Epinions' database of wines).
1999 Presidio Winery Merlot, Unfiltered
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Presidio Winery is a small winery -- founded in 1991 -- located in the town of Solvang in Santa Barbara County, California. Solvang is a small community first settled by some Danish settlers about 90 years ago. The town has been developed as a kind of Danish "living history" community, and today it attracts many tourists here in the Southern California area who are interested in visiting the many Danish restaurants, quaint shops, and attractions that the town has to offer.
More information: http://www.solvangrsi.com/main.shtml
Presidio Winery Merlot: This wine pours with a dark red, almost purple color and features a pleasing nose smelling of black cherry, plum, and some light vanilla. Although unfiltered, it pours with a bright, clear color with no readily visible traces of sedimentary material. This particular Merlot is blended in a Bordeaux style, containing 76% Merlot grape with the remaining 24% of the fruit being Cabernet Franc.
The fruit was hand-picked from a hillside vineyard in the Santa Ynez Valley. The Presidio Winery is not a huge operation (1,200 cases wine in 1991; just over 10,000 cases -- 120,000 bottles -- of wine in 2001), and it produces hand-crafted wines that are made with a level of attention and care that you don't see with large vintners. Its 1999 Merlot, for example, was fermented in small containers and the must (the skins, seeds and juice from the crushed grape) was "punched down" by hand -- not using a pneumatic machine like some wineries do -- four times per day. ("Punching down" is a mixing process that ensures a more even fermentation and a softer wine.) After fermentation, the wine was aged for 13 months in small French-oak barrels and then bottled in its natural, unfiltered state.
In terms of flavor, this young Merlot was surprising soft, round, and well balanced. Ready to drink now, but could also be cellared for a few years more. This Merlot was wonderfully fruity, featuring plenty of black fruit flavor (plum, cherry, blackberry) with a hint of mocha and vanilla at mid-palate and in the finish.
Price and Availability
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Listed at $24.99 at Suburban Wines (suburbanwines.com), and $18 at the winery. Single glass prices at the restaurant were $8. I ordered a second glass of this wine, which I enjoyed with my meal at the Caffe Citron -- an Italian (East Lemon Street, Monrovia).
Recommendations
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I enjoyed this wine with my dinner entreé: a center-cut pork chop stuffed with with gorgonzola cheese and served with a cherry-balsamic reduction sauce and a side dish of spinach. The Caffe Citron is an Italian restaurant in Monrovia's "Old Town" district, on East Lemon Street, just off of Myrtle (the main drag in town). This is a small, quaint restaurant having a short menu (about a dozen different dinner entreés) featuring some creative Italian cuisine. This is not a pizza or "meatball and spaghetti" joint. Dinner for two, including wine: about $80. A bit pricey, but worth the visit. The Presidio Winery Merlot is Caffe Citron's "house" Merlot, and I think that it is an excellent selection. My wife also liked this one very much, and she is slowly coming to regard Merlot wine as her favorite varietal.
Verdict: 4-stars. I liked this Merlot. I would buy it again.
Visit the winery's website at:
http://www.presidiowinery.com/index.html
I've already put this winery down as a place that I want to visit during my Spring break. For others who are interested, the Presidio Winery is located at 1539 Mission Drive, Solvang. Open 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. daily.
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Epinions.com ID:
4-1-1
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 - Top 50 |
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Member: Tom Carr
Location: Southern California
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