So there's a funny story attached to this wine. I'm a big fan of Chateau Montelena in Calistoga. I was a big fan of the movie bottle shock which is ALL about Chateau Montelena and I guess I've talked about the wine quite a bit.
So my husband, who doesn't really drink wine, although he's learning to. Was in a wine store and saw this wine and mistook Maddalena for Montelena and brought me a bottle. He was all, "Look! They've opened a second winery in Paso Robles!" Which, of course, they haven't. But it was a nice gesture, and a pretty good wine.
The best part is that Maddalena was founded by a woman, Maddalena Ribboli who opened one of the first winery tasting rooms in California in 1947. And I'm currently working on a story about a woman who inherits a California winery from her grandmother--who sounds a lot like Maddalena.
Anyway, the wine: Very dark color, an inky red. Smells of black cherry and dark chocolate with hints of leather. It's very dry, tastes of blackberries, cherries, baking spices.
Nose: black cherries, dark chocolate, with hints of leather. Deep, dark red--inky red. Tastes of black fruit, dried figs and baking spices. Very dry.
It has that indefinable something that sets Paso Robles reds apart from Napa reds. An added intensity. The tasting notes suggest pairing it with pasta or steak. But I think this is a perfect, late summer night, stargazing wine.
Or maybe I just think that because I'm working on annotating Touch of a Vanished Hand right now, and the characters drink a lot of wine and look at the stars.
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