July Wine Club-Peacock

I'm posting this video again because it pertains to the peacock selection this month. It like the Sapphire selection is from Mollydooker wines and the person in the video is the actual "Blue Eyed Boy"

So with out further ado, the Peacock selection for July is the 2021 Mollydooker 'Blue Eyed Boy' Shiraz.

This wine and the 'Gigglepot' is the from the "family line" of the Mollydooker wines. Luke is the wine makers's son and heads of the sales team. Gigglepot is named after his sister Hannah, who manages the tasting room. What strikes me about Mollydooker is their commitment to making solid wines. Their motto is " We make wines that make people go WOW, through attention to detail and commitment to excellence!"

Along with the patented Mollydooker Shake ™️, Mollydooker guarantee their wines by rating it on its Marquis Fruit Weight ™️ (the measure of how far back on your tongue the velvety sensation of fruit goes). If the parcels of grapes don't qualify at the the required Fruit Weight, the wines are not made. In 2008 they only bottled their Lefty wines and in 2015, they only bottled there Lefty and Family wines.

ABOUT MOLLYDOOKER

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The wine itself is beautiful representation of an Australian Shiraz. Right away the striking color of the wine stands out. The rich dark color lends itself to dark fruit flavors, think big juicy blueberries. On the palette the fruit flavors are fresh and full bodied. So many great layers on this wine. a great layer of cocoa and hints of vanilla. The wine was barrel fermented and matured in 100% American oak, with 55% being new and 45% in one year old barrels. Don't forget the Mollydooker shake when opening this wine and if you open this at the Bluebird, the Tomahawk or the Steak and Shrimp would be the easy choice with this wine. I would even venture to try it with the Duck:Roasted Duck Breast, spinach/garbanzo bean succotash, apricot chutney and hazelnuts.

July Wine Club-Sapphire

I really wanted to find a unique white wine for this month's selection featuring the wines from Australia and New Zealand. I know I could have easily found a Sauvignon Blanc. I was really happy to find the wine that I did.

The Sapphire selection this month is the 2022 Escarpment Chardonnay.

We are headed back to New Zealand's southern part of the North island. Escarpment is defined as a long, steep slope that lies at the end of a plateau. The winery is located on Te Muna road in Aotearoa, New Zealand. 'Te Muna' in Māori, means 'secret' or 'special place'. Winemaker Tim Bourne focuses on producing wines that capture the unique sense of place, the chardonnay is sourced primarily from their vineyards on Te Muna road.

This wine reminds of a Chardonnay (Burgundy) from France. The vineyard sits on alluvial loams, which are layered over deep gravel: this ensures great drainage. Which in turn help nuture the production of premium quality, healthy vines. The climate is generally cool with summer days not normally exceeding 86° (30°C). This allows the fruit to develop clean and with commanding flavors. Along with the fruit being handled with great care, the grapes are whole bunch pressed and fermented using indigenous yeast (this enhances the texture and complexity). The wine was aged in barrel, 20% new, for 11 months.

Right off the bat, the minerality is present in the aroma. There are hints of citrus, but the flinty mineral stood out the most, on the nose and the palette. This is probably not like any Chardonnay you've ever had. To quote the tasting notes "It is a wine that is built around elegance and restraint, offering focus and persistence."

For the red wine selection we are headed back to Australia where the grapes are grown in . McLaren Vale and Langhorne Creek. This months red selection is the 2020 Mollydooker 'The Boxer' Shiraz. 'Mollydooker' is Aussie slang for a left handed boxer (The boxer on the label is wearing two left-handed gloves). Sarah Marquis is the owner and Chief Winemaker for Mollydooker,

https://mollydookerwines.com/articles/sarah-and-the-mollydooker-story/?valid=true

Check out the above link to see how Mollydooker came to be.

In 2006, the first vintage of The Boxer came out. Robert Parker got a hold of it and rated it the "Best value Red Wine in the World" 😳 Two Left Feet was voted the second best and the Maitre D' Cabernet as the fourth. The Violinist Verdelho was also chosen as the 'Best Value White Wine in the World. Their wines sold out in 17 days after that. Since then they have continued to garner consistent success and accolades.

Before I get too far ahead of myself, there is a proper way to open this and other red wines from Mollydooker. Check it out:

Did you notice he did The Mollydooker Shake™️ with his left hand? Total pro. If you've already imbibed your bottle and want to try "the shake", hit me up I have more bottles.

This wine is just really good. I know I said I'm trying to be better at describing wines but I really like passing on as much pertinent information and having you form your own opinions about wine. This wine has a lot going on. For me it started out dark fruits on the nose, think black cherries and plums. Once it hits your pallet, game on. This wine is so beautifully layered and elegant. My notes highlighted the creamy texture, with hints of chocolate. Once again I defer to the winery's tasting notes "This Boxer is truly a knockout.

July Wine Club-Indigo

Good Day Mates. We are headed down under to Australia and New Zealand for wine club this month. One of the Indigo wines featured this month even has ties close to home.

We are starting out in New Zealand on the northern part of the South Island in the Marlborough AVA. The 2022 Capitello Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc is from winemaker Ray Walsh. Ray grew up in New Zealand and it was a backpacking trip in the '80 where he found his calling, he worked a harvest in Germany to finance his travels and he was hooked. He came back earned a degree and worked alongside Kim Crawford and with New Zealand's Villa Maria Estate. In 1993 Ray moved to Oregon and helped put King Estate on the map with their Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris. It was 2003 that he stepped away and started Capitello Wines. The Walsh family makes it home in Eugene, where their wines are produced, but head to New Zealand in the spring to work harvest and produce more wines from the Marlborough region. And to think some days I get worked up traveling between restaurants spaced 12 blocks apart.

Its tough to feature wines from Australia/New Zealand and not feature a Sauvignon Blanc. This one is perfect because of the close ties to home and it's just great juice. This wine is crisp and refreshing, The nose is very aromatic (not cat pee) {I had my doubts about saying cat pee, I have yet to smell/drink a wine from down under that has those characteristics} [the best description of Sauvignon Blancs I read was 'it tasted like a freshly opened can of tennis balls] Whoa....I digress. Let me be clear, this wine does not smell or taste like cat pee. This wine has exotic aromatics, I picked up lychee and passionfruit. This wine still has the green flavors (green/jalapeno peppers) you come to expect from an Australian Sauvignon Blanc, the flavors are so well integrated it just makes this a great Sauv Blanc.

For our next wine, we head to Australia, the feature this month is the 2020 Paxton McLaren Vale Shiraz. Shiraz is definitely the main grape of Australia. In 2022 there were 433,305 metric tons of Shiraz grapes crushed for wine production. I was suprised that Chardonnay took second place with 358,007 metric tons, Sauvignon Blanc was 5th with 90,409 tons. Cabernet Sauvignon (246,723) took 3rd and Merlot was 4th with 97,489 tons of fruit. Paxton's calls their approach to wine making "back to the future. They combine tradition, hands-on management, integrated and complimented by modern technology. They strive to keep inputs to a minimum and try not to use sulphur dioxide-they continue to master biodynamics and the never-ending non-chemical weed control.

I have really enjoyed researching and writing about wine the past few months. I am trying to write better descriptors for the wine, it's really hard because I believe flavors of wine can be subjective. I am going to quote Paxton's tasting notes on this one:

• "Bouquet: Oscillating between ripe blackberries stolen from your neighbor's back fence and wild fennel seeds harvested along a country roadside this wine keeps your intruigued waiting for further revelations like cocoa and star anise.

• Palate: A medium to full-bodied wine with fresh mulberries (I still don't know what a mulberry tastes like) on the palate entrance. The texture feels like floating over rolling hills in a smooth convertible, opening up like a view over an expansive valley at the crest of the last hill. Elongate by careful maturation in French oak barriques, the finish is like watching a glowing sunset at the end of an action-packed day.

After that description who wouldn't want to drink this wine.