If you are visiting us for the first time, Welcome! The Wine Spies feature one exceptional wine each day – and we only bring you wines that we ourselves seek out and love. Always, the wines are great. Sometimes even better than that, as is the case with today’s wine from Sol Rouge Vineyard & Winery.

Top Secret Exclusive

Today’s wine from Sol Rouge is only available to club members on a very limited basis and is also a very small production wine. The Wine Spies has secured a few cases for availability to the general public. This is an exceptional wine so be sure to grab a few bottles before it is gone.

Mission Codename: The Gypsy Dancer

Operative: Agent White

Objective: Reveal the truth behind the latest Rhone style blend from Sol Rouge

Mission Status: Accomplished!

Current Winery: Sol Rouge

Wine Subject: 2006 ‘The Gypsy’ Red Rhone Blend

Winemaker: Bryan & Jill Kane

Backgrounder:

The Southern Rhone Valley in France is famous for its Grenache, Mourvedre, Carignan, Syrah and Cinsault based blends that dance on the palate with a range of flavors, richness and elegance. With the popularity and awareness of such wines, more and more California producers are trying their hand with proprietary Rhone style blends. While these blends do not have to adhere to the strict AOC restrictions, they do capture the style very well. Today’s selection is a perfect example.

Wine Spies Tasting Profile:

Look – Beautiful clear garnet and ruby red in color with brick and pink edges and a sparkling and springy surface.

Smell – Balanced sweet ripe spring berries including raspberries and strawberries, a distinct and subtle floral component of lavender (incidentally one of the most prominent flowers in the southern Rhone) and a hint of spice.

Feel – Medium bodied and smooth, with a sweetness on the tip of the tongue and a slight dryness that reaches the back and edges of the palate.

Taste – Solid ripe fruit balanced against its oak and spice components. The floral lavender lingers and provides a very nice complexity to the flavors of this wine.

Finish – Long, lingering and complete, the finish of this wine invites another sip, and eventually another glass.

Conclusion – This wine is an exceptionally elegant wine. Bright fruit flavors, a complexity of oak, spice and floral components. Beautifully balanced, elegant in its presentation but fun and lively!

Mission Report:

The call came in on my cell phone. The woman on the other end said her name was Esméralda and spoke with a thick French accent. Her instructions were simple: Go to the bistro Michel Richard in Los Angeles and order the Le Plateau De Charcuterie.

I did as instructed, and along with the Pâtés, Dry Sausage and freshly baked bread, came a glass of red wine. Immediately I was concerned, I had eaten at the bistro regularly, the staff knew me and would never just pour a glass of ‘house’ wine.

This was no house wine, however. It was a French wine, or so I thought. Beautiful fruit, balanced spice and oak, and the unique scent of fresh lavender, lively but also elegant and sophisticated. Southern Rhone, I thought. Grenache, revealed by its sweet fruit aroma and flavor. I discretely took a sample for analysis back at the ops center. While I enjoyed the wine and the lunch, I wasn’t prepared for another scavenger hunt or wild goose chase of a mission.

As I was leaving, the garcon said the bill had been taken care of by a dancer. The ‘Dancer’, puzzling thought. I inquired further. All he would confirm is that the dancer spoke with a French accent and if I wanted more information I would know where to find it.

Once back at the ops center, I dropped the sample off at our lab and results confirmed that it was indeed a red Rhone blend, but the grapes were from California and the blend was proprietary. My only other clue was that Esméralda was a dancer.

Baffled, I blindly called the dance studio around the corner from Michel Richard (made famous my the television show So You Think You Can Dance) and asked for Esméralda. The man paused and then put me on hold. Only after waiting for about 5 minutes did he return and said, ‘The Gypsy’ doesn’t instruct here anymore. The ‘Gypsy’ I asked, yes, that was what she preferred to be called. I asked if I could review her file, he said, the only thing she left was a bottle of wine with a card on it. The card was sealed with the the note ‘Hold for A.W’.

After I convinced them I was A.W. I was able to inspect the bottle. It was a new wine from Sol Rouge, specifically a 2006 red Rhone blend called ‘The Gypsy’.

While the mystery of the Gypsy Dancer Esméralda still haunts me, the wine doesn’t, simply delicious.

Wine Spies Vineyard Check:

The location of the Sol Rouge Vineyards can be seen in this satellite photo.