As wine enthusiasts, deciding which wine region to visit first in France proved far more challenging than expected. Of course, the usual suspects came to mind almost immediately – Bordeaux, Burgundy, or Champagne? Certainly each are more than worthy for consideration and places we absolutely intend to visit, but we ended up choosing the lesser known village of Châteauneuf-du-Pape largely because it has quickly become one of our favourite wine regions. What we also discovered from our sojourn was a charming village that afforded the perfect getaway to immerse ourselves in local French living.
1999 Remelluri La Granja Rioja Gran Reserva
Wow. A lovely example of a more classic style Rioja. Incredibly elegant and sophisticated with tons of complexity. Both black and red fruits on the nose backed with earth, spice, and some vanilla. Medium in body with less acidity than expected, it had a structure and smoothness that was simply beautiful with a nice savory finish. Drinking perfectly in our estimation but in no danger of breaking down for a while yet.
Excellent+
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2006 Betz Family Syrah La Serenne
Dark purple in colour, this 10 year old wine is showing no age on the rim. Lots of fruit on the nose, particularly blackberry, blueberry, raspberry and some plum. Secondary notes of chocolate and earth with a hint of menthol. This is a smooth, plush wine with terrific structure and very long finish that is drinking beautifully now but still has a few years before it peaks. 100% Syrah from the Boushey Vineyard.
Excellent+
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Restaurante José Maria sits on the Plaza Mayor in the town of Segovia in Spain. Segovia is a spectacularly beautiful city about 50 km North of Madrid. In 1985 it was declared a World Heritage Site. We ended up in Segovia as the first stop on the Fine Vintage Tour of Ribera del Duero and Rioja. And what a first stop it was! We kidded our tour guides that they had peaked early, that they could not possibly keep up this quality of food and wine over the week in front of us.
DeLille Cellars is a winery in Washington State whose name has become synonymous with producing consistently outstanding quality wines while at the same time garnering the respect and admiration of its peers. Not only has the winery played an integral part in putting Washington on the world wine map, they have also helped develop many winemakers in the process ensuring a legacy of continued quality winemaking coming out of the State for years to come.
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