Livermore Valley Vintners Consortium Shows Off Their Creativity
Attended the 2023 Livermore Valley Vintners Collective release on Saturday, June 24th at the Bankhead theater lobby. This was for their 2020 vintages. Each year seven Livermore Valley wineries agree on a format to be followed and each winemaker putting their creative spin on the end product within the guidelines. Six wineries participated in Saturday’s event. The rules this year were five wines were to be chosen and each representing twenty percent with all grapes being from Livermore Valley. The varietal choice was up to each winemaker. The each wine was paired with a specific cheese selected for the event. Two that were especially delicious were Wood Family Vineyards and Rosa Fierro Cellars.
(photo by Michael Kelly)
(photo by Harrison Wood)
Here is description I previously did on this years’ Wood Family Vineyards LVCC submission:
“This is a blend of five varietals each composing 20% of the total featuring: Grenache, Malbec, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Petite Sirah. This wine is a kindred spirit to a typical symphony with four movements. The first addressing the mind, the second targeting the heart, the third a wake call with up tempo music and the fourth/final movement a strong and powerful, stirring and cheerful rendition of the previous movements. So it is with Wood Family Vineyards LVCC Red Blend. It starts off focused on the intellect trying to dissect varying and contrasting flavors of Grenache (bright cherry, ripe fruit, licorice), Cabernet Franc (medium body, herbs, pepper and earthiness) and Cabernet Sauvignon (robust, chewy and leather). The second movement is the heart of the blend, flavors and aromas bursting with flavors of cocoa, and velvety tannins. The third movement is the wakeup call focused on easy to drink Cabernet Franc contrasting to the robust chewy tannins of Cabernet Sauvignon. The final crescendo pulling it all together, is the combination of red fruits, coffee, herbs, blackberry and layers upon layers of opulence and exuberance picking up all the nuances of the various components”.
For the full story on Wood Family Vineyards submission, click here on the link:
Rosa Fierro Cellars comprised of four of my favorite varietals: Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec and Petite Sirah and Barbera, which was a delicious combination and a lovely finish.
Sláinte,
Michael