2023 Wood Family Vineyards Grenache – A Spicy Wine with Pizza
Photo ©Michael Kelly
The Wine – “Wine is bottled poetry” – Robert Louis Stevenson
Photo ©Michael Kelly
I had previously written about Wood Family Vineyards 2021 Grenache, and this 2023 just took on a completely new level of deliciousness. Willaim Cowper’s poem from 1785 called “The Task” stated “variety is the very spice of life, that gives it all flavor”. So, it is with the 2023 Wood Family Vineyards Grenache giving spice and flavor in abundance.
First on the eyes, a mesmerizing radiant purple hue that was semi-translucent almost iridescent appearance. On the nose, aromas of bright Bing cherries and exotic tropical spicy notes of cinnamon and bay leaf wafted into the senses. On the palate, is where this “lightly colored” wine packs a world-class punch so don’t be fooled! Besides the cherries, strawberries coated in powder sugar waking up the mouth, secondary flavors of cinnamon and vanilla rounded out the tasting experience. On the finish, a surprisingly welcomed amount of tannins resided on the back of the throat with a hint of herbal sage coupled with a smoky flavor. A complete and fulfilling Grenache was presented sip after sip. Seven barrels were produced, and it will be released mid-February. Previous vintage was aged 18 months in neutral French barrels but do not have the specifics for this year. This came in with 14.8% alcohol.
This wine will most likely make the Annual Best Wines Tasted for 2025 upon a second tasting soon.
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
This week was insanely busy and had no time last evening to prepare a “full on food pairing” to go with the wine. We decided to do a rather unusual pairing for us and bake two very different frozen pizzas to go with the wine! We had never had either of these pizzas before. It then became a pizza “bake off”.
Photo ©Michael Kelly
The first pizza was a Porta Uncured Pepperoni pizza from Canada. It had pomodoro sauce, mozzarella and uncured smoky pepperoni. The Roman style pinsa (hand stretched) pizza dough originates from how flatbread was baked many centuries ago in Italy. The flavor of the uncured sausage was amazing. The dough did not seem to rise even with additional baking. While the sauce was good, it needed almost twice as much for our tastes. Garnished with fresh basil.
Photo ©Michael Kelly
The second pizza was a Rao’s Meat Trio Pizza. It consisted of sausage, uncured pepperoni, uncured bacon and Rao’s homemade pizza sauce. Advertised as using vine-ripened Italian grown tomatoes and whole milk mozzarella cheese. Also garnished with fresh basil. The taste was very good with the abundant sauce and the three meats. The uncured peperoni were better on the Porta pizza, but overall, the Rao’s won in the “bake off”.
The wine was perfectly suited for both the pizzas in adding the fruit to the uncured pepperoni saltiness and able to stand up to the sauce.
The Winery
Photo from Wood Family Vineyards of tasting room
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 about 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.
Sláinte,
Michael
https://californiawinesandwineries.com