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What We Say 2007 Flying Rooster Ranch Tempranillo
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Mission Codename: The Tempranillo Temptation
Operative: Agent Red
Objective: Investigate reports of a delicious Sonoma Coast Tempranillo. If the wine is as great as reports suggest, secure an ample quantity for our variety-thirsty Operatives
Mission Status: Accomplished!
Current Winery: De La Montoya
Wine Subject: 2007 De La Montanya Tempranillo – Sonoma Coast
Winemaker: Dennis De La Montanya
Backgrounder: Tempranillo (Temp-rah-NEE-yoh) is primary red wine grape for much of Spain. It is also a principal blending grape in Port, and is known by the name of tinta roriz. Tempranillo vines tend to have a shorter growing season and thrive cooler climates. In California, winemakers have had great success with the varietal, despite hotter growing conditions. Hotter conditions can tend to introduce undesirable attributes, leading to wines that are indistinct or flabby, making California’s Sonoma Coast region optimal for growing this exotic grape varietal. Today’s California Tempranillo is a great wine with a fantastic QPR. Read Agent Red’s tasting notes and mission report below
Wine Spies Tasting Profile:
Look – Rich garnet with a deep heart of dark burgundy, concentrated color right out to the purple edges of the wine with ultra-skinny legs that emerge quickly and then streak down the glass
Smell – Bright blackberry, spiced cherry, leather, chocolate, plum and earthen sweetwoods and soft mixed spices
Feel – A slow attack, that goes from soft and somewhat round on the tip of the tongue and the mid-palate, then more bold and medium-bodied and slightly grippy.
Taste – Leading off with smokey dark cherry juice, with dark blueberry, ripe blackberry and dusty plum, followed by dark chocolate-covered over-ripe strawberry.
Finish – A Long finish, with lingering flavors or cherry, plum and chocolate dust, with ripe dark fruits that linger for a long time
Conclusion – Another great surprise, from a winery that has earned our respect as a producer of excellent and really interesting – if off-beat – varietals and blends. This wine shows balance and restraint, but does not lack for flavor, feel or deep aromatics. This rich and balanced wine is a ready to drink pleaser. Tempranillo is built for aging, but I loved it right now! Knowing that it will mature and improve with age has me laying down a few bottles over the next few years. I recommend that you do the same – if you are patient enoung! The bright acidity of the wine makes it a great partner for most food pairings, but I recommend that you serve it with a great Paella or a mushroom Risotto. Dennis De La Montanya shows, once again, that he has fine command of the grapes that he grows and, ultimately, wrangles into a bottle. All for your enjoyment!
Mission Report:
Earlier this year, we sent Agent Red to infiltrate the De La Montanya Winery in Sonoma County’s Dry Creek Valley. He returned, then, with a wine from their limited production PinUp series. For today’s wine, Red returned to DLM for a more down to earth selection, the Flying Rooster Ranch Tempranillo. Today’s wine is a gorgeous and extremely delicious that pairs with almost every food we could throw at it.
Currently the most popular wine at the winery’s tasting room, we are only able to make a small quantity of the superb wine available to you today. Many thanks to Dennis De La Montanya for allowing us to abscond with a few cases today.
Dennis De La Montanya, owner and winemaker at De La Montanya Winery in Sonoma County’s Dry Creek Valley, creates beautiful wines under his main DLM label. He also crafts small lots of special wines for his offshoot wine series, PinUp and those created with rockers Eddie Money and Journey, these last two build as fundraisers for charitable causes.
All of Dennis’s wine strike great balance. Dennis De La Montanya, too, strikes a balance in his approach to winemaking – which is reflected in his personality. I had the great fortune to spend a morning with Dennis recently. I found him to be serious about wine and winemaking, but also a boisterous, gregarious and even slightly irreverent man of the world type. He is equally at home discussing the finer points of fine wine – or passionately lambasting someone that he might disagree with. The latter done with great humor that had me laughing out loud at points during our conversation.
If you are ever in the Dry Creek Valley, I encourage you to visit with Dennis and his crew. A great time will be had by all and I guarantee that you will learn something.
Meanwhile, treat yourself to today’s delicious 2007 Tempranillo, a wine that is a remarkably great wine at a wonderful price.
Wine Spies Vineyard Check:
The gorgeous location of the De La Montanya Winery can be seen in this satellite photo.
What the Winery Says
De La Montanya Estate
Awards & Accolades:
Silver Medal – 2009 SF Chronicle Wine Competition
About The Winery:
De La Montanya Estate Vineyards was founded in 1995, and the Winery with Tasting Room opened in June, 2003.
Our family winery produces more than 30 different wines ranging from 25 to 250 cases each, totally about 4,500 cases per year. Each wine is bottled from the best of our estate-grown, hand selected grapes from De La Montanya vineyards spanning five appellations from the Sonoma Coast to Lake County.
A colorful legacy of Northern California pioneers, farmers and purveyors of wine has transcended seven generations of the De La Montanya family. We transferred the experience in viticulture and farming into winemaking, and now welcome friends and family to our showcase winery, “the Barn” on Foreman Lane in Healdsburg.
For those of you who have visited us, or even better, are members of the Club, you know that we love what we do and more importantly — have fun at it. Whether it’s at one of our events, a special dinner, or just another day in the tasting room, you’ll experience wine the way it’s intended to be, with good people in a beautiful and welcoming environment.
De La Montanya Winery amidst the Felta Creek Vineyard straddles the border of the Russian River Valley and Dry Creek Valley appellations in Sonoma County. A Golden Delicious apple orchard surrounds the picturesque tasting room which includes an outdoor patio area and bocce court.
We invite you to stop by any time for a tasting Fri. – Sun., 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and by calling ahead to book an appointment, Monday through Thursday.
The winery is located just off Westside Road, south of downtown Healdsburg. From Westside Road, turn on Felta Road to Foreman Lane and go directly under the Westside Road overpass. Click here for a MAP
See you at the Barn!
— Dennis and Tina De La Montanya
About The Vineyard:
“Site driven” is the term best used for this winemaking philosophy. The 200 acres of DLM estate vineyards offer just about the most perfect soils and microclimates especially suited to growing each individual grape variety.
Flying Rooster Ranch Vineyard, Sonoma Coast
41 acres Pinot Noir
1 acre Petite Syrah
1 acre Tempranillo
1/2 acre Muscat
3 acres Sauvignon Blanc
1/2 acre Pinot Meunier
1/2 acre Chardonnay
1/2 acre Syrah
1/2 acre Merlot
1/2 acre Cabernet Franc
About Tempranillo: (courtesy of Wikipedia)
Tempranillo is a variety of black grape widely grown to make full-bodied red wines1 in its native Spain. It is the main grape used in Rioja, and is often referred to as Spain’s “noble grape”.2 Its name is the diminutive of the Spanish temprano (“early”),1 a reference to the fact that it ripens several weeks earlier than most Spanish red grapes. In the last 100 years it has been planted in South America, USA, South Africa, Australia, and Canada.
Tempranillo wines can be consumed young, but the most expensive ones are aged for several years in oak barrels. The wines are ruby red in colour, with aromas and flavors of berries, plum, tobacco, vanilla, leather and herb.
