LIMITED AVAILABILITY ALERT:

Today’s wine is selling quickly and, unless we can procure more, it will sell out. You have been warned…

SUPERIOR WINE/QPR ALERT:

Today’s wine is a superior wine at a truly fantastic price, earning it this special combo-alert. We always bring you wines that we love, but whenever we show a true stand-out wine we issue a Superior Wine Alert. Whenever a wine represents an extraordinary value, we issue a QPR (Quality to Price Ratio) Alert.

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: The 80/20 Rule

Operative: Agent Red

Objective: Return to Peters Family Winery’s to retrieve the newest vintage of Doug Peters’ delicious Sonoma Stage Vineyard Pinot Noir

Mission Status: Accomplished!

Current Winery: Peters Family Winery

Wine Subject: 2008 Red Wine – Sonoma Mountain

Winemaker: Douglas Peters

Backgrounder: The Wine Spies have always been enamored with Peters Family wines. Doug Peters makes wines that deliver a true sense of place and, always, with fruit that simply shines through to the senses. Today’s masterful blend of 88% Merlot and 22% Cabernet Franc deliver a wine that is simply fantastic.

The Sonoma mountain AVA was shaped by ancient volcanic activity. The mountain, which consists of obsidian, marine deposits and ash, rises high above the Sonoma Valley. Vineyards on Sonoma Mountain benefit from being above the fog line. This allows for even, slow ripening – resulting in wines that are elegant and complex.

Wine Spies Tasting Profile:

Look – Dark garnet hues with a slightly darker heart. At the edge of the wine, this dark color gradually transitions to a ring of soft pink. After swirling, tall, thin legs take a long time to form, before running very slowly down the glass.

Smell – Shy at first, but once this wine opens up it delivers! After just a few minutes of spinning the wine, aromas begin to leap from the glass. These are lead by black currant, black cherry, blackberry and blueberry. Close behind are aromas of leather, spice, tobacco leaf, black tea and dark spiced oak.

Feel – Lightweight on initial entry. Then, the wine gains dimension and complexity as it expands onto the entire palate. Plush tannins and a medium acidity bracket the fruit and spice flavors, giving the wine a fine sense of balance. Gradually, a soft, mineral-rich dryness spreads throughout the palate.

Taste – Black cherry, black plum and blackberry provide the initial rush of flavors. These are backed up by cherry juice, seared black fig, leather, bramble, dark chocolate, bold dried meats, subtle herbs and subtle exotic spice.

Finish – Very long and filled with flavors of red and black fruit that gradually yield to black tea, minerals, dark chocolate and spice.

Conclusion – The 2008 Red Wine from our friend, Douglas Peters, is another in a string of great wines. Best known to us for his boastful but elegant single-varietal wines, this time around he regales us with a delicious red blend. Rather than back off on 5% of the Merlot (in order to legally call it a Merlot), Doug instead opts for a blending of Merlot with 20% Cabernet Franc. The result is a red blend that we are just crazy about. Pair with nearly anything, as this wine has just the right balance to make it a cozy companion for most foods. We recommend a juicy burger or a delicious herb-rubbed rotisserie chicken. As for the low price of the wine, we won’t tell Doug that it is too low, if you don’t!

Wine Spies Vineyard Check:

The approximate location of the Peters Family Winery can be seen in this satellite photo.