2006 Mandolina Malvasia bianca, Santa Barbara County.
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This Malvasia is a pale straw color with a faint green hue. It offers medium intensity lychee, grapefruit, peach and apricot aromas with a note of mandarin orange and a hint of warm Asian spice. In the mouth medium intensity peach, apricot and mineral precede light lychee and a note of mandarin orange. Lower medium bodied, this wine has a mousse-like texture with a soft, mineral mouth feel. A medium length finish offers peach and lychee with a touch of warmth. |
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13.5 Alcohol $16.00 Retail (from winery); Typically about 250 cases are produced annually. |
This Malvasia is lovely and expressive with an alluring but not desperate nose. The complexity of aromas is delivered with finesse. There is excellent minerality here but the midsection is corpulent and bit soft. It will pair very well with sweet Thai dishes and even lighter desserts like lemon cake or pistachio ice cream over the next two to three years. BOTTOM LINE: Very good. Highly recommended. |
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Production | Grapes | Producer | Vineyard | Vintage
100% Los Alamos Vineyard Malvasia Bianca. Steel tank fermented to complete dryness.
Varieties:
Malvasia Bainca originates from a Greek family of grapes but is best know as wines originating from Tuscany and Umbria in Italy where it is one of the most widely planted grapes. It is usually made into a lightly sweet style but it can be made into a sparkling or desert wines. In the case of the later, the grapes are first dried, then crushed and vinified. Malvasia Bianca is also used as a blending grape - usually with Trebbiano. Malvasia Bianca wines are typically floral and perfumed with flavors of honey, pears and spices.
Producer:
Louis Lucas is a key figure in Santa Barbara County and San Luis Obispo County viticulture as one of the area's first commercial wine grape growers. Along with a handful other growers, he has become an iconoclast of Central Coast Viticulture. Coming from a grape growing family in the Bakersfield area, he came to Santa Barbara County in 1970 when he formed Tepusquet Vineyards with his brother George and partner Alfred Gagnon. Through a passionate pursuit of knowledge he broke many long accepted rues of viticulture and defined many new ones for the Central Coast. Royce Lewellen, a retired judge joined forces in 1996 and Lucas & Lewellen have been making wines together since. Their wines sourced from their 30+ year-old vines wines have been winning awards for a long time. Their vineyards are located in Santa Maria, Los Alamos and Santa Ynez Valleys. Daniel Gehrs is the winemaker at Lucas & Lewellen. Another prominent figure in the world of Santa Barbara wine, he consults to many wineries in the area and produces wines under his own label.
Vineyards:
The Los Alamos Valley Vineyard is over a mile long, and runs along Highway 101 south of Los Alamos. This vineyard is planted with Rhône, Burgundy, Bordeaux and Italian varieties. Some of the vines, originating from cuttings brought over from Europe, are over 25 years old. The fruit from this vineyards is highly sought-after by many winemakers.
Vintage:
The 2006 growing season was longer than 2005. The July heat wave came at the time of veraison for some regions but affected the crops differently depending on AVA (read the complete story). Monterey County started out cool and rainy which slowed bud break and growth. The heat spell was the second bump in the road. By harvest time, early ripening varieties like Chardonnay and Pinot Noir came to the crush pads about two weeks early. The late ripening varieties like Cabernet and Merlot came in about two weeks earlier than usual. That put some wineries in a crunch with tanks not ready for the late-ripening varieties. What this means for wines depends on a winery's line up. If all their stock was in Pinot and Chardonnay, then they did not feel rushed and we may see some great wines. Those that did experience a bottleneck may have rushed the early-ripening varieties and vinified late ripening varieties at greater levels of maturity.
Rating
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Color |
5 points |
(5 points max) |
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Nose |
5 points |
(5 points max) |
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Palate |
5 points |
(5 points max) |
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Finish |
3 points |
(5 points max) |
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Tannins |
5 points |
(5 points max) |
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Acidity |
4 points |
(5 points max) |
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Alcohol |
5 points |
(5 points max) |
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Aging potential |
2 points |
(5 points max) |
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Overall quality |
9 points |
(10 points max) |
100-Point Scale Score: 88 Points
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