2021 Wood Family Vineyards El Loco Rojo, A Serious “Bordeaux Style” Wine
Background
The wine is called El Loco Rojo, initially after a relative of the Wood Family. The legend is about a red-headed man, who was the life of the party, yet somehow managed to be “cool”. Rhonda Wood describes him as someone who will “bring a smile to your face, regardless of your mood” and “his love is boundless and his attitude is contagious”. Now who would not like a wine that could evoke such an affect?
The Winery
Wood Family Vineyards, located in eastern Livermore Valley, with Rhonda Wood owner & winemaker, has been producing award winning wines for over two decades. You can read more on her background from airline pilot to award winning winemaker at:
https://californiawinesandwineries.com/2016/02/10/wood-family-vineyards-2/
and
Her awards are extensive and too numerous to list here in this article. Check out their website at the bottom of this article.
The Wine “Wine is bottled poetry” – Robert Louis Stevenson
Photo ©Michael Kelly
To be clear this is not an off-handed whimsical wine, it is a serious “Bordeaux style blend”. For 2023 it is a blend of 58% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Cabernet Franc, 10% Merlot, 6% Malbec and 6% Petit Verdot.
Photo ©Michael Kelly
Blends can cut two ways: unfortunately many blends can leave you flat with an amalgamation of mediocrity or be spectacularly blended to highlight each component. This is the later highlighting the wonderment of the selected varietals. You can dissect and pick out the essential components while tasting the wine. First on the eyes, a luminous royal purple in the glass and medium heavy viscosity. On the nose, blackberries are the predominate aroma. On the palate, one immediately picks up on dancing spices coming from the five varietals. Chewiness from the Cabernet Sauvignon along with soft leather notes and yet bold blackberry fruits coupled with the tannins are a perfect complement to a meat dish. The stronger texture of the Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon were tamed by the mellower Merlot and Malbec yet provided a slight hint of sweetness countered by the bolder aforementioned wines and the Petit Verdot. This provides a never ending structure to be enjoyed and savored with a minuscule residual of oak. On the finish is where this wine excels with the varieties coming together like a live symphony with a combination of rounded tannins as well as some angular ones! The alcohol level is 14.1% and only 263 cases were produced. It will be released the beginning of November and will sell for $48/bottle. Barrel treatment was primarily new French oak (40%) and a small percentage of new Hungarian oak with the balance being neutral French oak.
The Food and Wine Pairing “Food without wine is a corpse; wine without food is a ghost. United and well matched, they are as body and soul: living partners” – Andre Simon
Photo ©Michael Kelly
The evening was a bit unusual food and wine pairing as it was France meets Mexico/Argentina in a sense! We started out with freshly made guacamole and chips served with a beautiful Malbec that our guests brought from Titus Vineyards (one of my favorites).
Photos ©Michael Kelly
For Dinner we served a Carne Asada, Mexican rice, a large bowl of garden salad and roasted garlic French bread.
Photo ©Michael Kelly
The plated dinner with this wine was a special Carne Asada. Seared and BBQ’d to medium rare. The ingredients included, fresh chopped Serrano peppers (3 with seeds) rather than Jalapeño peppers, olive oil, soy sauce, fresh squeezed orange and lime juice, minced garlic cloves, ground cumin, Kosher salt, ground black pepper marinated for 24 hours with a flank steak. The steak was seared on the BBQ with an infrared ceramic burner at between 1200 to 1400 degrees for about 4 to 5 minutes a side along with Jalapeño peppers roasting on top of the steak. Plated with fresh minced cilantro, fresh marinade sauce and a modicum of fresh squeezed lime juice. The Carne Asada was flavorful and spicy with a little more punch than using Jalapeño peppers as called for in the recipe. This has been one of our go to summer foods!
While this wine was a bit “under represented” with this meal meaning it called for a meal with less spicy meat, it was still a gorgeous and solid wine holding up to the intense steak. This wine will definitely make my annual “Best Wines Tasted This Year” again (comes out each December).
Sláinte,
Michael
https://californiawinesandwineries.com