The 2010 Navigato Family Selection Red Blend is a wine that has some age on it already but still has plenty more to give. The wine is a Bordeaux blend consisting of Malbec, Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc, and Family Selection means it is the top barrels used for this signature bottling! It is black garnet in color with bright inviting complex aromas of melted chocolate and pretty toasted herbs. On the palate we find raspberry and blackberry flavors intertwined with chocolate and coffee notes. The finish is wonderfully layered with great depth and balance to be enjoyed now or for many more years to come.
This wine is made by rock star winemaker Benoit Touquette (Realm, Kata, Fait Main, Teeter Totter) and we were blown away the first time that we tried it. It is now in Alberta and over delivers in every way!
. They are getting some real premium fruit in Bordeaux and have made a fantastic wine! It is more classic than a Napa red wine and shows great minerality that is typically found in Bordeaux, but is much more fruit driven and silky smooth than most of the old school Bordeaux wines. This epitomizes old world meeting new world in one exciting wine! It is a right bank Bordeaux, meaning it is mostly Merlot with Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot balancing it out The fruit is dark and deep, fruit forward with a delectable juicy component up front, followed by hints of cedar spice and truffles, with that tell tale mineral note. The tannins are silky and smooth and again, this wine tastes far above it’s price point! This wine is delicious on it’s own, but even better with aged cheese, charcuterie, pork tenderloin or steak! Delicious!
While a step back from the blockbuster 2012, Philippe Melka’s 2013 Pirouette is no slouch and offers serious amounts of ripe black cherry fruits, graphite, hints of chocolate and plenty of sweet oak in a beautifully concentrated, ripe, textured package. Made from 63% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot, 12% Petit Verdot and 5% Cabernet Franc (mostly from Red Mountain) that spent 22 months in 75% new French oak, give bottle 3-5 years in the cellar and enjoy over the following decade or more.
