Wine Last Sold on: December 4, 2012
Wesley Ashley Wines
Featured Wine:
2009 Intelligent Design Cuvée Blanc
| Varietal: | White Blend |
| Region: | California: Santa Barbara County |
| Availability: | ULTRA LIMITED |
| Avg. Price: | $34.00 |
| Wine Spies: | $23.99 |
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SUPERIOR WINE ALERT:
Today’s wine WILL sell out. Please act quickly…
SUPER QPR ALERT:
At today’s special Wine Spies price, this wine delivers tremendous value - and a drinking experience that exceeds expectations, easily earning it this special QPR (Quality to Price Ratio) Alert.
Mission Codename: Going... Going...
- Operative
- Agent Red
- Objective
- Send Agent Red back to Wesley Ashley Wines, on California’s Central Coast, this time to secure every available bottle of their coveted white blend.
- Mission Status
- Accomplished!
- Winemaker
- Jason Welch
Final Assessment
Very highly recommended and very limited, please make your decision very quickly, dear Operative. This wine will sell out.
Today’s 2009 Wesley Ashley Cuvee Blanc is a very rich and well-tempered wine that is packed with rich flavors and wonderfully bright aromas. On the palate, the wine is fresh and crisp. With a little bit of the blend having spent time in French oak, the wine also has a soft elegance.
This is a great, silky, food-friendly wine for fans of more complex Chardonnay or crisp Sauvignon Blanc. Pair with a lovely persimmon salad, steamed muscles, baked root vegetables (beets, parsnips, yams), or a roasted beet salad with goat cheese.
Tasting Profile
Pale, light golden color with perfect clarity and glistening edges. After spinning the wine, tall, skinny legs ease their way down the glass wall. After a moment, a second round of legs appear - and then take even longer to move down the glass.
Fresh, bright aromas of peach, apricot, honeysuckle at first. These are balanced against integrated green fig, fresh citrus and subtle white pepper.
Round and very soft on entry with good weight and a supple creaminess. The wine then has a crispness at the mid-palate.
Fresh, rich and mature, with flavors of melon, lemon, Fuyu persimmon combine with a flinty minerality and a bright bright acidity.
Long and ultra-smooth, with fresh fruits that gradually yield to a mineral and white pepper bite that lingers on for a very long time.
What the Winery Says
Winemaker Notes
The grapes for this exciting blend were harvested in Santa Barbara County during the cool morning hours in October. They were brought to the winery and immediately pressed to cold, stainless steel fermentation tanks. The juice was allowed to settle at 50° F overnight and then barreled down to one and two year old French oak barrels for the start of fermentation. Natural yeasts were used to enhance mouth feel and aromatics. After primary fermentation was completed, secondary Malolactic fermentation was used on 60% of the blend. This adds roundness to the mouth, and softens some of the harder acids that can occur. After aging in barrel for 10 months, the wine was nitrogen racked to tank and the final blend was assembled. Great care was taken at every stage of the winemaking process to ensure that the wonderful aromatics and luxurious texture of this wine remained at the forefront.
Alcohol
14.1%
Varietal Composition
50% Viognier, 30% Roussanne, 20% Grenache Blanc
About the Winery
At Wesley Ashley Wines, we started out with a simple idea. Instead of duplicating everyone else’s eclectic blends, we decided to create blends that do justice to the great blends that inspired it. At Wesley Ashley Wines, blending allows the vintner to create complex wines by combining the unique characteristics of their component varietals. We aim to produce wines that are approachable and easy to drink.
Mission
To introduce the world to the beauty of Rhone styled blends.
Company Overview
Founded by Jim Sloate, Wesley Ashley Wines is based in Northern California. The name “Wesley Ashley” is a combination of Sloate’s middle name, Wesley, and his daughter’s middle name, Cuvee and its 2009 Intelligent Design Cuvee Blanc in Northern California.
