March 2007 Wine Tasting Notes:
2004 Barreto Cellars Touriga, Lodi.
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This wine is a deep ruby color with a purple edge. The nose offers medium intensity bramble and very light raisin notes with hints of warm brown spices. Very light notes of tea and oil of Bergamot follow. The palate continues with medium intensity briary berries and spice. Light rosy notes and hints of caramel and vibrant oak accent the palate which ends with a savory herb note. The combination of proportionate acids, alcohols and supple tannins make for a full bodied wine with a smooth mouthfeel. The finish is a bit truncated, consisting of lighter cherry and notes of spice and rose hips, ending a bit warm. |
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Cumulative Score: 91 breakdown 14.3% Alcohol $23.99 Retail (from winery); 88 cases produced |
Beautifully brambly, this juicy and lightly herbal wine offers breadth and complexity. Scintillating and elegant, this wine will do well in social and intimate settings. A year in the cellar should allow this wine to mellow and integrate a little more. Expect this wine to hold up well for 5-7 more years with proper cellaring at that time. Pair with rare red meats and mushroom sauces. |
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More Barreto Cellars reviews. More on the Lodi AVA |
78% Touriga Nacional and 22% Souzao sourced from Silvaspoons Vineyard in Lodi. Aged 18 months in French oak, 30% new.
Known as "Mortagua" in Portugal and simply "Touriga", Touriga Naçional is considered the best and finest variety for port. It is also blended with other varieties in Portugal to make rich table wines. The very small, dark berries make for small yields of deep colored, tannic wines with considerable longevity. Valued for its quality, it is grown not only in the Iberian peninsula but also in Argentina, Australia, Chile and several locations in the United States in addition to California. This grape gives structured, dark colored wine with intense berry aromas and ripe flavors of blackberry, black currant, blueberry, floral notes of roses and violets, licorice, chocolate and tea.
A vigorous variety, the northern Portuguese native, Souzào, is one of very few dark grapes whose pulp (and juice) contain pigment and is often used to impart its vivid color to blends. Currently, it is more widely planted in Australia, California and South Africa. Its high sugar content makes for higher alcohol levels. Souzào gives concentrated color and ripe, juicy blackberry, licorice and raisin flavors. Read more about Port.
The hot 2004 growing season was one of the shortest in the history of the state. Harvest came two to three weeks earlier than usual, at the start of August. Statewide reports of light to normal yields of excellent quality fruit with superb extraction raised anticipation of the wines to come. While this "crop of crops" was lauded as producing highly extracted fruit, some wines have been rather unbalanced while others were stunning an memorable. This seems to depend more on the combination of AVA and vineyard management, rather than winemaking techniques. Each offering from this vintage should be judged individually and not by virtue of vintage alone since the shortened growing season affected different varietals in different AVAs and even vineyards.
Silvaspoons Vineyard, in Lodi’s Alta Mesa sub-appellation, produces mainly Zinfandel. However it is also know for its Portuguese, Italian and Rhône varieties such as Touriga Nacional, Nero de’ Avola and Grenache – all of which it produces in small amounts. The 55,000 acre Alta Mesa AVA sits on a slightly elevated mesa (about 150 feet at most) of dense clay and gravel soils that are difficult for vine roots to penetrate. It is one of the warmest of the seven sub-regions of the Lodi AVA.
Barreto Cellars was unofficially born in 2002 when husband and wife Michael and Joey Barreto moved to the Central Coast region after leaving their jobs and selling their house in 2001 with the aim of claiming their stake in the wine boom. Michael Barreto first made home wine. As his fascination grew, he became very serious about learning the ins and outs of winemaking and went back to school, taking classes at Fresno State. In 2001, he took on a job as a cellar worker at Courtside Cellars in San Miguel and in 2003 he became assistant winemaker at Sylvester Winery and began to make wines under his own label in that facility. Making generally small lots, he approaches wine making with a minimalist philosophy of gentle handling. His wines are a New World take on Spanish and Portuguese wines and offer wine lovers partial to more extracted and expressive wines an opportunity to enjoy these varieties.
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5 points |
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Nose |
4 points |
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Palate |
3 points |
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Finish |
2 points |
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Tannins |
5 points |
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Acidity |
5 points |
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Alcohol |
5 points |
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Aging potential |
3 points |
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Overall quality |
9 points |
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