Ed's wine blog

 

2015  The Lost Chapters  White Meritage  California

This is another wine in the Powerbuy section whose label caught my eye, I figured if they cared enough to put a beautiful label like this on their bottle it must be good. It didn't hurt that I recognized one of the names on the back label, Mitch Cosentino. He had his own winery and produced many wines that had won numerous awards, hmm I said, and the bottle went into my cart.

The wine is produced by J. McClelland cellars, owned by the Scotto family, who were friends for years of Mr McClelland during which time he advised them on all aspects of making and marketing wine. When the opportunity to purchase the Steele Canyon Winery came in 2012, they jumped on it and asked Mitch Cosentino to consult with the winemaking.

This wine is a blend of 54% Sauvignon blanc, and 46% Semillon. The Sauvignon blanc was fermented in Stainless steel (preserves fruit flavors) and aged in used neutral oak barrels, the Semillon was also fermented in Stainless steel, and then aged in French oak barrels especially made for the grape. The lees (yeast sediment) were stirred weekly in the barrels which translates into a creamy mouthfeel in the wine.

This wine opens with the familar note of white grapefruit/citrus from the Sauvignon blanc, and a mix of stone fruit notes that remind me of peach, apricot, along with a hint of honeydew melon in the nose. The palate has all of the above flavors, just right acidity, with a slight spice flavor that I can't quite pinpoint. It finishes smoothly with the fruit flavors fading nicely, not completely dry but not sweet either.... it makes me want to take another sip to experience the flavors again.

This wine is fun to sip by itself, but I think it could accompany a cheese fondue, Caprese salad, Chicken Marbella, or a 3 cheese white pizza with cherry tomatoes and artichokes. This wine has enough backbone to stand up to a roast pork dinner, or a Veal dish also.

Only available at about a dozen of the NH Liquor outlets for $11.99 per bottle, if it sounds interesting to you I would get one soon. I bought 6 of them on Saturday at the West Lebanon Liquor store, they have about 45 left as of this writing.

Cheers!

Ed