Splurge
Wine
Our Splurge Wine feature often
begins with a few Celebrity Splurge
Wine quotes. Here, food and wine professionals,
as well as other celebrities who have a
passion for fine food and wine, answer the
following question:
When it's
time to celebrate with a special wine, I
like to open a bottle of our Charles Krug
Generations. It's our Family Reserve, a
sophisticated
cabernet blend that I especially like because
it adds the perfect touch to the celebration
without taking the attention away from whatever
happy event we are toasting. And it's wonderful
to sip it on its own but I enjoy it even
more with a great steak!"
We recently tasted the latest vintage of
a wine that we just have a particular fondness
for -- as much for the concept as the wine
itself.
It's the Casa Nuestra Tinto
-- actually, this time we tasted the Tinto
Classico. It's made from a "field blend"
of grapes, meaning that the vineyard is
not planted to any one particular grape
variety. Instead, the vineyard (which in
this case was originally planted sometime
before 1956) is planted to a collection
of varietals, some of which cannot even
be identified.
Field blends were fairly common
a few generations ago, but are largely an
outdated concept today. But at Napa Valley's
Casa
Nuestra, in a nod to history, they have
not only maintained the original field blend
vineyard in Oakville, they've reproduced
the vineyard in St. Helena by taking cuttings
and t-budding them onto vines.
The Tinto Classico comes from
the original Oakville vineyard and may contain
anything from Zinfandel to Petite Sirah,
along with Cabernet Pfeffer, Alicante Bouschet,
Mourvedre, Napa Gamay and Cabernet Sauvignon,
among others. The grapes varieties are not
separated at any time during the winemaking
process -- it's just all mixed up together.
 The
results? Here are our notes on the 2006
vintage:
($40). With lovely, complex,
concentrated aromas and flavors, this wine
is fruit-driven without being overripe or
particularly full-bodied. Intense wild blackberry,
raspberry and plum fruit is laced with understated
baking spices, fresh herbal notes, tobacco
leaf and creamy oak, with a long, focused
finish. Ready to drink now and over the
next three or four years. Locate
this wine online or in your area.
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If you have questions, comments, or Splurge
Wines to suggest, please write
to us!
For past Splurge Wine picks,
click here.
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Peter
Mondavi, Jr., Proprietor,