![]() ![]() ![]() I can tell you only that the wine aged 22 months in French oak barrels, 66 percent of which were new. Poor Emblem Cabernet Sauvignon 2011, Napa Valley, falls between the cracks on the winery’s website, which lists the 2012 for sale but explicates the full technical details about the 2010. For 2011, however, while the ‘regular” Emblem requires a year or two to lose some youthful brusqueness, the Emblem “Oso” is fine-tuned and engaging. I found previous renditions of the Emblem wines well-made and flawless technically but somewhat stolid and uncompelling. True to the vineyard name, the Animo 2010 and the M 2010 feel imbued with a life force of vibrant animation. It provides grapes for the flagship M by Michael Mondavi label but only became its own brand with the 2010 vintage reviewed below. Michael and Isabel Mondavi and their children presciently purchased the vineyard on Atlas Peak, renamed Animo, in 1999. Whether the grapes come from the valley floor, foothills or mountainside, cabernet sauvignon and Napa Valley are inextricably linked. That grape variety grew in importance with the reputation of Napa Valley and the Robert Mondavi Winery, which, along with others, exploited key vineyard sites to produce profound wines. It’s the last three cabernet-based wines that concern us today.Ĭabernet sauvignon is a natural fit for Napa Valley and for the Michael Mondavi family. Ten years later, Tim and Marcia own Continuum Winery on Pritchard Hill (whose products I have not tasted), while Michael and his family, wife Isabel and children Rob and Dina, preside over an empire of sorts that under the Folio Fine Wine Partners umbrella includes an arm that imports wines primarily from Italy but also Germany, Austria and Spain, and Michael Mondavi Family Estate, which includes the Isabel Mondavi, Emblem, Animo and M by Michael Mondavi labels. No, wine and the Napa Valley were in their blood. The wines of Château Puech-Haut are all full of history and endowed with a singular identity with strong character. In summarizing the Estate’s philosophy, Gérard Bru states, “Our objective is clear: produce the greatest wines by respecting and captivating various terroirs is the philosophy of Puech Haut.When the Mondavi family sold the Robert Mondavi Winery to Constellation Brands in 2004, no one assumed that the children of patriarch Robert Mondavi (1913-2008) - Michael, Tim and Marcia - would roll over and find jobs outside the wine industry, say in teaching or marketing or going to law school. Bru was impressed with the area’s unique terroir and believed it was ideal for growing premium grapes, with its clay and limestone soils topped with a layer of rounded pebbles. The property was converted from olives to grapes and the property’s farmhouse evolved to Château Puech-Haut, producing its first wines a few years later. The history of Château Puech-Haut is above all the story of Gérard Bru, a visionary man who built his vineyard just as he built his own life: starting from nothing and creating and achieving a dream without question. In 1980, Bru bought a parcel that was planted to olive trees and wasn’t part of the Languedoc A.O.C. The estate’s vineyards are mainly planted to Syrah, Grenache, Carignan (50-60-year-old vines), Viognier, Marsanne and Roussanne. A UNIQUE CHARACTER BORN UNDER THE SIGN OF ARIES Nestled on the shores of the Mediterranean and the foothills of the Cevennes region of southern France, Chateau Puech-Haut’s vineyards span 625 acres in Côteaux du Languedoc AOC, including 230 acres in Saint Drézéry and 55 acres in Pic Saint Loup. ![]()
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