I'm glad it worked out that I am able to feature the 2020 Trentadue 'La Storia' Merlot. I have a soft spot for this winery because I was able to visit when I was in California last year. Trentadue is located in Geyserville (north of Heldsburg).Way back in 1959 Evelyn and Leo Trentadue decided to flee, what is now know as the Silicon Valley, and purchased over 200 acres of land in Sonoma's county's Alexander Valley. Their farming practices "reflect our commitment to exceptional fruit quality and our stewardship of the land from which it comes. We strive to balance the traditions of the area's early Italian growers and the ever-evolving viticulture industry."
I'm going to go as far as to say this is my benchmark California merlot. I'm not sure why the guy in the movie Sideways was so worked up about drinking Merlot. I had my mental notes from my visit but I recently revisited this wine with some gourmet left overs recently. The meal in question was Insta-pot pork roast lovin', locally foraged mushroom medley and herbed polenta.
I worked up such an appetite foraging for the mushrooms is probably why I enjoyed my meal and this wine so much. This classic Bordeaux varietal has great flavors of dark cherry and plums. New oak works its magic with flavors of vanilla and produces a soft well balanced wine.
The white wine selection for the Indigo is a lesser known grape and the more I drink it the more I like it. It's a nice change of pace from your usual white wine suspects like Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc. Speaking of Sauvignon Blanc...if you like Sauv Blanc's then you will like the 2022 Husch 'Mendocino' Chenin Blanc. The moment the wine hit my mouth the, it reminded me of a spring day. Fresh grassyness, like a Sauvignon Blanc, and flavors of honeysuckle and citrus washed over my mouth and it melded into a round mouthfeel and a long satisfying finish. The Husch winery boasts the earliest varietal plantings in the Anderson Valley. In 1979, Hugo Oswald Jr. bought the Husch winery, at the time the Oswald family had been grown pears. Today the winery is owned and operated by the 3rd generation of the Oswald family and still have not lost its reputation for great wines.
If we had more mushrooms I would make a mushroom risotto with them and drink this wine with it. 🤤
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