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What We Say 2009 Purety Napa Valley White Wine
SPECIAL AWARD ALERT:
Included in the price of today’s wine, is a Wine Tasting for Two at PureCru’s own tasting room, in downtown Napa, California!
SUPERIOR WINE ALERT:
We only showcase wines that we love. While our emphasis is on quality first, every now and again we come across a real standout wine that rises above. When we do, we issue alerts like this one.
CELEBRATION ALERT:
Celebrate Operatives! Back in mid-2011 we marked the return of Mitch Cosentino with his PureCru Wines project – and it was a huge success. Responding to operative demands, we revisit Mitch and PureCru to bring you their delicious 2009 PURETY, a delectable white blend that our entire tasting panel went crazy for.
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: Virtuosity
Operative: Agent Red
Objective: Return to pureCru Wines, by Mitch Cosentino. Mitch and his wines have graced our pages these last five years, because we adore his wines. Mitch holds the distinction of being our best-selling winemaker of all time. Infiltrate his winery and return with an ample allotment of his PURETY, a delicious, refreshing and distinctive Napa Valley White wine blend.
Mission Status: Accomplished!
Current Winery: pureCru Wines, by Mitch Cosentino
Wine Subject: 2009 PURETY Napa Valley White Wine
Winemaker: Mitch Cosentino
Winery Backgrounder: For the last five years, Mitch Cosentino’s wines have consistently enjoyed the distinction of being our top-selling winemaker of all time. Mitch’s wines are varied, distinctive and always delicious. We are proud to welcome Mitch back to our pages with today’s PureCru PURETY Napa Valley White Wine, a balanced and delicious blend of 52% Sauvignon Blanc and 48% Semillon.
Wine Spies Tasting Profile:
Look – Golden yellow with perfect coloration from core to edge. When swirled, skinny legs cascade downward from high on the glass wall.
Smell – Bright aromas of mixed citrus lead the way, with dark lemon, yellow grapefruit and subtle key lime all delivering a lovely freshness on the nose. Beneath these, subtle hazelnut, creamed honey, soft spice and white flowers provide complexity and intrigue.
Feel – Soft and round on entry. A moment later, bright acids and soft, integrated tannins usher in a softly spreading dryness that spreads to the lips and cheeks. Decant for a softer drinking experience.
Taste – Delicious and full of flavor, this wine leads with balanced, sweet lemon, sweet lime and yellow grapefruit. As the wine warms, even just a little, a world of flavors opens up and orange blossom, white peach, nectarine, pink grapefruit, creamed honey, spice and subtle toasty oak emerge.
Finish – Very long, with lingering citrus that gradually yields to stonefruit, subtle spice, subtle oak, white honey and slate minerals.
Conclusion – Delicious, right out of the chiller, allow this wine to warm just slightly and be handsomely rewarded with greater complexity, more flavor, deeper aromatics and a more tender mouth feel. Mitch Cosentino’s 2009 PURETY Napa Valley is a delicious wine that is, in our opinion, under priced. We won’t tell Mitch if you don’t! Meanwhile, we’ll be stocking our personal spy cellars with this exceptional, delicious, character-filled wine. Enjoy all on its own, or with seafood, turkey (stock up for Thanksgiving, dear Operative!) or an assortment of cheeses and Charcuterie. Enjoy now and for the next few years.
Mission Report:
WINEMAKER INTEL BRIEFING DOSSIER
SUBJECT: Mitch Cosentino
WINE EDUCATION: Self Taught and 33 years of practical experience
CALIFORNIA WINE JOB BRIEF: Winemaker for Cosentino Winery from 1980 to 2010,
Consultant to various wineries and growers from 1989 to present.
Founder-Winemaker of pureCru Winery and Wines from 2009 to present
WINEMAKING PHILOSOPHY: Flavor and balance
FIRST COMMERCIAL WINE RELEASE: 1980 Merlot and a 1980 Cabernet Sauvignon and a Blanc de Noir Sparkling wine all released in 1982 under the brand of Crystal Valley Cellars/Cosentino Wine Company.
Wine Spies Vineyard Check:
The location of Mitch Cosentino’s Couples & Co. winery can be seen in this <A HREF=“http://maps.google.com/maps?q=451+Gateway+Road+West%0D%0ANapa,+CA+94558&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=451+Gateway+Rd+W,Napa,California+94558&gl=us&ll=38.225716,-122.265649&spn=0.002887,0.008256&t=h&z=18” TARGET=“NEW”>satellite photo</A>.
What the Winery Says
pureCru Wines
About This Wine:
This Napa valley blend of sauvignon blanc and semillon is intended for today, but will age well into the next decade.
Citrus and raw honey with hints of spice and fig in the nose. Rich and balanced with an almost liquid satin feel. Broad and waxy on the palate with notes of stone fruit and vanilla honey. A red wine drinkers white that has a long finish.
Winemaking & Barrel Regimen: Tank & barrel fermentation; New/used oak barrels
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:
Vintage: 2009
Appellation: Napa Valley
Composition: 52% Sauvignon Blanc, 48% Semillon
ML: No
pH: 3.31
TA: .58g
Alcohol: 14.9%
