I recently had the pleasure to dining at a restaurant with a creative, youthful wine list. One of the bottles I order was the 2016 Idlewild The Bird. That turned out to be my favorite wine of the evening.
Idlewild is the brainchild of Owner/Winemaker Sam Bilbro who made the prestigious Wine Enthusiast 40 Under 40 list in 2017. Idlewild is an Italian-inspired portfolio of wines primarily sourced from Mendocino County’s Fox Hill Vineyard (some also comes from Sonoma). Bilbro’s passion for the wines of Northern Italy’s Piedmont region have translated to the growing of unusual-for-California Italian grape.
This is a very food-friendly wine and I primarily ordered it to pair with several dishes we were sampling. Was outstanding with my lamb dish. This wine is affordable enough to be a weeknight go-to wine…if you can find it.
860 cases produced.
Looks: Medium red in the glass.
Smell: Ripe cherries, wood strawberries, wet earth.
Taste: Flavors of cherry, ripe raspberries with earthy and leather notes.
Texture and Finish: Light and fresh with some tannins on the finish.
Pairings: Very food friendly: Lamb, roast chicken, grilled salmon, light red sauce pasta
Style: Red Wine
Grape Type(s): 39% Barbera, 28.5% Nebbiolo, 26% Dolcetto, 4% Grignolino, and 2.5% Freisa
Region: Mendocino County California, USA
Price: $25
Mumm Napa Brut Reserve NV.
This young wine was inky purple/red in the glass with dark berry aromas and hints of pepper and wet soil. It was medium to full-bodied with more dark fruit on the palate along with great acidity and firm tannins that will soften with some age in the bottle. We had this with a variety of grilled meats and it was a solid pairing.
Another beauty from the team at Jonata proving once again that Matt Dees is one of the most talented winemakers in the central coast. This is a blend of the 11 varieties grown at the property. Mental note to add to my limited allocation next year.
Seems Ravines can do no wrong and Ayre is no exception. It’s an enjoyable semi-dry wine made from Valvin Muscat. This varietal is a French-American hybrid grape developed by Cornell University.
I hosted a dinner party where I needed to pour some top Canadian wines and since the Norman Hardie Pinots come so highly-rated, I decided to order a few bottles of the 2015, a great year in the Niagara Peninsula.
In the Glass
Special high-end wine made in a limited edition of the best harvest of 2010. There were 400 bottles produced, I wouldn’t expect to find this in stores.
Brought this lovely Pinot Noir to my favorite gourmet pizzeria in anticipation of having forest mushroom pizza and it was a stellar pairing.
I decanted this California Petite Sirah for 45 minutes before drinking, drank it over 60 minutes and it opened up beautifully.
Those of us living in a cold climate are eager to get the rosé uncorked, marking the unofficial start of the Spring-Summer season. I enjoy rosé wines year-around – heavier in the winter and lighter in the summer and below are examples of nice, accessible rosé wines for under $15.
Pale ruby in the glass but with an earthy, deep ripe cherry nose. The palate of this medium-bodied wine is of cherry/juicy berry flavors and some mineral notes. Smooth, silky texture and an earthy/mushroomy finish.
Fruity, spiced nose, bright red in the glass. The palate of this medium-bodied wine is rich with cherry/tart berry flavors and some peppery notes. Smooth, silky texture and a slightly-peppery finish.
Summer’s finally here and warm days are among us. While sipping rosé wines during the summer isn’t anything new, what I’m really enjoying is how food-friendly rosés have become. Rosé, French for ‘pink’, describes a genre of refreshing wines, in various hue of pink and that are made using red grapes.
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