March 2007 Wine Tasting Notes:
2004 Barreto Cellars Vinho Tinto, California
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This is a lightly smoky, deep ruby-colored wine. The nose offers lighter intensity warm spices (nutmeg and cinnamon), light blackberry with a slight briary character backed by vanilla notes. The palate continues light blackberry and brown spices with light leather and savory notes. This fuller bodied wine has appropriate acids and alcohols that come together with supple and smooth tannins for a smooth mouthfeel. A modest finish of light blackberry and tangy strawberry berry flavors ends a bit warm for the composition. |
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Cumulative Score: 87 breakdown 14.3% Alcohol $17.99Retail (from winery); 293 cases produced |
Demure and sleek with juicy, bouncy berry flavors, this bottling offers more wine and greater value than most $20-$30 imports available in better markets and wine stores. Lots of character and no attitude, this blend drinks smoothly and opens a bit with aeration. Very food-friendly, this wine will do well with barbecued meats, cheeses and savory, rich dishes for about 4 more years. |
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More Barreto Cellars reviews. More on the Lodi AVA More on the Paso Robles AVA |
41% Tempranillo, 41% Touriga Nacional, 16% Tannat and 2% Souzao sourced from Silvaspoons Vineyard in Lodi and Vina Robles in Paso Robles. Aged 18 months in French oak, 30% new.
The thick-skinned Spanish Tempranillo is believed to originate in northern Spain and some have suggested that it shares its ancestral lineage with Pinot Noir. The primary grape of Rioja wines, it has been called the Spanish answer to Cabernet Sauvignon. The name, Tempranillo, is a derivation of “temprano” – the Spanish word for “early” This is very fitting as the variety ripens several weeks earlier than other red varieties. It has almost always been used as part of a blend in dry table wines, often with Cabernet Sauvignon, Carignan or Grenache and the lesser know Graciano, Mazuelo and Monastrell. Tempranillo plays a minor role in Port (called Tinta Roriz in Portugal. Read more about Port.). It is typified by lower acidity and lower sugars (and, thus, lower potential alcohol). This characteristic makes it both successful in hot climates and an excellent food pairing. Although it is planted in Spain, Portugal, Argentina, Australia, California and Chile it is at its best produces its best results in cooler growing regions. Tempranillo produces deep-colored wines with tannins approachable in youth. It can also withstand a heavier oak treatment and age gracefully in both barrel and bottle. In its youth, Tempranillo offers strawberry, cherry and black currant aromas and flavors accompanied by toffee, spices, herbal and earthy characteristics such as olive and tobacco as well as leather and mineral elements. It is a grape of many names depending on location and it is believed that much of the Valdepeñas grown for California’s jug wines is actually Tempranillo.
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.
Tannat is believed to be of Basque origin. This thick-skinned grape from the Pyrenees, in the southwest of France, most likely derives its name from its character. It is most commonly known to connoisseurs as the key grape in the aromatic and tannic Madiran wines of southwestern France (where it seems to be on the decline). Its other claim to global fame is that it is thought to have been the grape that started Uruguay's wine industry. It is easy to grow, being a consistent producer of moderate yields. A thick skin protects this late ripening variety from grey rot and powdery mildew and frost. Tannat produces rich, full-bodied, tannic red wines from its dark berries. While it is conventionally blended with Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon, it is not the secret ingredient in 'fruit-bombs'. Notably, though, it makes for popular varietal wines in Central America. Outside of France and Uruguay, it is grown in Argentina and, in limited amounts in California and a few other states after receiving official recognition fro the TTB in 2002 (as a result of a petition put forth by Tablas Creek Vineyard). It can be austere and hard to approach in its youth but its natural acidity preserves its fruit while the tannins soften over time. Tannat can express strong plum raspberry but these are generally dominated by spicy characteristics such as cocoa, coffee and vanilla accented by leathery notes.
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.
Purchased by Swiss-born civil engineer Hans Nef in 1996, Vina Robles is a 1237 acre estate consisting of 3 large properties east of Highway 101 and the town of Paso Robles. The largest is Huerhuero Vineyard. With 526.7 of the total 863.3 acres planted to 14 varieties in 1999 and 2000, it sits just south of Highway 46. The southern most of the three vineyards, it receives some of the cooling marine effect that makes it through the Templeton Gap of the Santa Lucia Mountains. As a result, the vines experience a longer (by several weeks) growing season. The name of the vineyard is said to correspond to the Native American word for “coarse, “blonde” sand of the river bed” – according to the Vina Robles web site. Limestone and clay soils of the vineyard are planted to Viognier, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Grenache, Malbec, Merlot, Mourvedre, Petite Syrah, Petite Verdot, Sangiovese, Tannat, Tempranillo (9.8 acres), Touriga Nacional, and Zinfandel. The other two, smaller, vineyards are Jardine Vineyard and Pleasant Valley Vineyard – located north of Highway 46 in the vicinity of the airport. Of Jardine’s 295 acres (just east of the airport), 280were planted in 1997 and 2000 to Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petite Syrah and Zinfandel. The Pleasant Valley Vineyard is the northernmost of the three and rests on the gentle hills north of the airport. 64 of its 79 acres were planted in 1999 to Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Zinfandel.
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 |
3 points |
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Palate |
2 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 |
2 points |
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Overall quality |
8 points |
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