Raymond Burr Vineyards
2010 Dry Creek Valley Quartet Bordeaux Blend
Bordeaux
California: Dry Creek Valley
Mission Briefing
Serious Substance
Raymond Burr was clearly a romantic and today’s Raymond Burr Vineyards 2010 Dry Creek Valley Quartet Bordeaux Blend was made for romance.
This wine is honest, powerful and very elegant. Flavors are bold and forward, but not at all muscular or overpowering. Flavors and aromas are all in wondrous balance and the finish is elegant and seemingly endless.
If you love great Bordeaux-style blends, you will love this very special blend from the very special Raymond Burr Vineyards winery. We offer you this fantastic wine with our most hearty recommendation.
Tasting Profile
| Look: | Deep scarlet at its core, near perfectly diffuse from core to edge, with just a hint of lightening at the rim. |
|---|---|
| Smell: | Concentrated, braised dark fruit of black currant, plum, and blackberry laid overtop sweet tobacco, espresso bean, anise, black pepper, and a touch of eucalyptus. |
| Taste: | Fulfills the promise of the nose, with deep flavors of braised black cherry and plum, cedar cigar box, fresh berry bramble, rosemary, and sage. |
| Finish: | Refined and well balanced, the finish is quite possibly the most enjoyable aspect of this wine. Wonderfully long and elegant, with the dark fruit slowly trailing off and leaving a slight pucker at the back of the palate. |
| Pairing: | Moroccan lamb meatballs served with lentils, couscous, and fresh mint. |
What the Winery Says
This Bordeaux-style blend marks the 21st year of winemaking from the vines Raymond Burr planted in 1986. Crafted by our winemaker, Phyllis Zouzounis, this wine carries to fruition all the promise Mr. Burr envisioned as he gazed down into Dry Creek Valley. Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, and Malbec come together in a harmony of pleasurable richness.
- Winemaker
- Phyllis Zouzounis
- Appellation
- Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma County, California
- Varietal Composition
- 53% Cabernet Sauvignon, 32% Malbec, 9% Cabernet Franc, 6% Petite Verdot
- Cooperage
- 22 months in American oak
- Cases Produced
- Less than 350
- ABV
- 13.6%
About the Winery
Raymond Burr and Robert Benevides had met, as professional actors, in the middle 1950s on the television program which was to make a legend of Burr, “Perry Mason.” Motivated in the beginning by friendship, the Burr/Benevides relationship was bolstered and advanced by their individual interest in, and knowledge of, the cultivation and hybridization of orchids. In the next several years this shared hobby began to grow until the obvious resolution was to make it a commercial venture. And so, Sea God Nurseries was born, becoming in the 20-odd years of its life an international presence with ranges in Fiji, Hawaii, the Azores Islands and in Southern California.
Simultaneously, Benevides had become Executive in Charge of Production on Mr. Burr’s very successful television series “Ironside” and together they managed an island in Fiji they had bought, where they raised copra and cattle.
In 1976 Benevides, on the advice of his father, had purchased an eminently desirable farm in the Dry Creek Valley and in the following months, as the nine-year “Ironside” drew to a close, Burr and Benevides traveled in northern California, the scene of both their young lives (Burr was raised in Vallejo, Benevides on the Peninsula, both attended school in Berkeley). Benevides took Burr to see his property in Sonoma County.
Around this time, the Dry Creek Valley was in transition; having for a long while produced hops, and then prunes, the area was just beginning to be recognized as the prime terrain for grape-growing that it now is. By 1980 the Burr/Benevides partnership had moved their orchid nurseries to the valley and work on the manzanita covered benchlands began…the clearing, the tilling, the sterilization; the wells dug, the drip-systems installed, the Roman drains, the French drains, the trellises built, the wires strung…all while the two men were actively engaged in the Viacom presentation of the new adventures of “Perry Mason” which over a period of five years was filmed in Denver, Colorado, Paris, France and Toronto, Canada!
The grapes were planted in 1986: Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Chardonnay, and, for the proprietors, a small section of Port–the bareroot stock imported from Portugal. (The Port, originally intended for family and friends, has somehow found its way onto the Cartes du Vin of a couple of upscale San Francisco restaurants, and in 1996 took Double Gold at the wine fair there.)