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What We Say 2006 pureCos Napa Valley Red Wine
SUPERIOR WINE ALERT:
Today’s wine is a superb Napa Valley red that delivers so much greatness – at a really great price. We always feature the best wines available, but when one really shines, we issue a special alert.
CELEBRATION ALERT:
Celebrate Operatives! Mitch Cosentino is back with us, once again. By now, you know that Mitch is one of our most beloved winemakers in California. Among our Operatives Mitch is also well-loved. He has the distinction of being our best-selling winemaker of all time. For good reason, too, Mitch makes amazing wines.
SECRET SAVINGS ALERT:
Subscribe to our Daily Dispatch (above) and you’ll always know what our Top Secret coupon code of the day is. Every day we issue a new members-only code that entitles you to have Ground Shipping included on orders of six or more and, sometimes, an added discount!
Mission Codename: purElegance
Operative: Agent Red
Objective: Return to Mitch Cosentino, long-time friend of The Wine Spies, and procure a special Elite Operative Saturday allotment of his flagship Napa Valley Red Blend, just in time for our Operatives’ Holiday celebrations.
Mission Status: Accomplished!
Current Winery: pureCru Wines by M. Cosentino
Wine Subject: 2006 pureCos Napa Valley Red Wine
Winemaker: Mitch Cosentino
Winery Backgrounder: We first met Mitch Cosentino in early 2007, and we were smitten with his wines almost instantly. Mitch enjoys the distinction of being our top-selling winemaker of all time. Mitch’s wines are varied, distinctive, always delicious – and always a Wine Spies Operative favorite.
Wine Spies Tasting Profile:
Look – Beautiful ruby red, with even, concentrated color from core to edge. After a hearty swirl, tall legs start high up on the glass, before they run slowly downward.
Smell – Fragrant and full, bursting with big red raspberry and strawberry. Black cherry and red currant follow. As the wine opens up, dark chocolate, subtle mocha, brown spice and toasty vanilla oak mingle with bramble and a hint of pepper.
Feel – Tender and soft at the tip of the tongue, then quickly grippy and mouth-filling. The wine gains a little weight at the mid-palate, giving it a more serious feel than on entry. Tannins are supple and acidity is balanced, giving the impression that this wine is built for food-pairing.
Taste – Lush and red, bursting with mixed berries of dark raspberry, young strawberry, blackberry and black cherry. These sit atop soft brown spice, chocolate, a touch of leather and a hint of toasty oak.
Finish – Lush, long and full of berry favor. As the red fruit tails off, darker fruit is revealed, ushering in earthy leather, spice, black pepper and a touch of oak.
Conclusion – Go, Mitch Cosentino! Today’s deep, delicious wine is another remarkable feat from one of our very favorite people in the wine trade. I have had the pleasure to know Mitch for several years now, and I learn something about wine each time I meet him. Today’s wine is his flagship beauty, from his newest winery. Mitch’s pureCru wines, with their balanced acids and flavors, are built to be enjoyed with a great meal. This delicious wine could be enjoyed on its own, but we opted for a traditional dinner of a grill-pan fried New York steak with mushrooms and bleu cheese, mashed potatoes, gravy and green beans. What a delicious pairing. This wine gets our heartiest recommendation. Grab some for now, and for your classiest Holiday celebrations.
Mission Report:
Wine Spies Vineyard Check:
The location of Mitch Cosentino’s Couples & Co. winery can be seen in this satellite photo.
What the Winery Says
pureCru Wines
Awards & Accolades:
GOLD MEDAL & BEST OF CLASS – Super Tuscan Division – 2009 Los Angeles International Wine and Spirits Competition
SILVER MEDAL – 2010 San Francisco International Wine Competition
SILVER MEDAL – 2009 Pacific Rim Wine Competition
About This Wine:
pureCos has size, balance, richness and structure with warm and well-integrated tannins that exhibit intriguing aromatics and bright red fruit elegance, a wine with a fourth dimension.
pureCru Napa Valley began as what Cosentino refers to as “a winemakers wine project”, and has evolved into a venture that takes Cosentino back to his roots.
“I had been reminiscing about a small, hands-on entity where I could do it all myself again, like I did in the beginning.”
About The Winery:
Three wine lovers from the central valley join an award-winning Napa Valley winemaker to found pureCru, a winery producing small quantities of unique blends.
“I had been reminiscing about a small, hands-on entity where I could do it all myself again, like I did in the beginning.” Mitch Cosentino
Celebrating 30 years of winemaking and with more than a thousand awards to his name, Mitch Cosentino is making another dream come true with his launch of pureCru Napa Valley.
Mitch Cosentino – Cosentino began making wine in small lots in Modesto, California in 1980. Ten years later he moved the Cosentino Winery operation to the Napa Valley, where he continued to make many award-winning varietal and blended wines.
Cosentino has a gift for identifying fruit sources and is highly skilled and artistic in determining blends. He’s a big believer in the hands-on, old world use of punched cap fermentation, a labor-intensive, hand-crafted method of winemaking. When it comes to the small lots Cosentino puts into his pureCru blends, this “micro” approach to winemaking allows him to better control the delicate process from the vineyard to the bottle.
Mitch and Fred Couples – Cosentino is also a noted golfer, which led him to a partnership with Fred Couples and the creation of Couples & Co, a pureCru brand.
Couples initially discovered a taste for fine wine in his twenties, coinciding with his first golf tournament win. “I have enjoyed learning about wine for more than 25 years,” said Couples. “I’ve met many people in the wine business and have discovered that winemaking is an intricate process.”
After doing an in-depth tasting of preliminary blends with Cosentino in 2008, Couples knew he had found the right partner. “Mitch is a great winemaker,” said Couples. “I thought it was the right time and place to put my own name, along with Mitch’s, on a label.”
Technical Analysis:
Composition: 56% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Cabernet Franc, 12.5% Merlot, 12.5% Sangiovese
Vintage: 2006
Appellation: Napa Valley
Aging: Aged 31 months in selected French oak barrels
Alcohol: %
