Virtual Wine Tasting ~ Taking Time for Tesoro
As our Tesoro is a blend of several vineyard sites in Sonoma, it has, over the years told the story of the valley and our expression of it through this blend. Uniquely, it also shows our migration in our choice in vineyards for sourcing fruit and how those choices have led us closer to home here in Kenwood.
In this special virtual tasting, we spoke with Michael Muscardini about his construction of his blends and his love for opulence in crafting wines that have both “fruit on the nose and fruit on the palate”, and how this particular blend compares with one of our other cult blends via our Fortuna, made with a focus on Bordeaux varietals from the single vineyard fruit of BWise Vineyards.
We also discussed how, for the first time, we added a small amount of Petite Sirah to the new 2017 vintage of our Tesoro to give it just a bit more tannic structure, and how that impacts the way the wine drinks, making it seem more Old World even in its youth.
Beyond varietal differences, being able to compare this iconic blend with our rarely-produced Fortuna blend helped us learn more about stylistic differences as well as how sourcing from multiple vineyards in Sonoma Valley versus a single vineyard impacts the final wine.
Given that our blends are built to age for years, they perform similarly to Cabernet Sauvignon, where they have years where they are utterly expressive and years where they fall silent. We were fortunate to try the 2011 vintage alongside the 2017. Though more expressive of dried fruit and herbs, the 2011 still held ample acidity and moderate tannic grip on the palate.
As winemakers often create their signature blends that reflect their own personality, we enjoyed taking some time to learn more about how Michael leaves his personal thumbprint on each vintage of his beautifully-crafted Tesoro.
For this week's virtual tasting wine review, we selected wine club member, Dave and Barb Graziani’s writeup as the official winner of the complimentary signed bottle of 2017 Tesoro. We were touched to see how multiple vintages of Tesoro had a place at their table for special holidays and family gatherings over the years. In a time of apart-together, this warm reminder that we will all be together again in the near future really spoke to the entire Muscardini Cellars team.
Congratulations, Dave & Barb! See their review below...
Muscardini Tesoro has consistently been our "go to" wine of choice for our major family gatherings. For Thanksgiving and Christmas we always start with homemade ravioli as the primi piatti, and Easter would mark the beginning of Spring with the first BBQ of the season that included ribeyes or filet mignon. For the Winter gatherings, the blend of the Tesoro perfectly complimented the rich flavors of the spinach, pork and ravioli filling and the meat, porcini and tomato sugo. As we all sat around the table, the wine helped promote lively table conversation and storytelling as the contents of the bottles diminished, only to be replaced by more bottles and more laughter. In Spring, the bold and rich flavors of Tesoro enhanced our enjoyment of the thick, juicy steaks, and again promoted much discussion and laughter, as well as a game or two of bocce on the lawn in the backyard. These gatherings are very special to our family and Tesoro has definitely helped to make them that way. The most significant gathering occurred at Thanksgiving 2018, when the matriarch of the family was still with us. Good times, great wine, and love. Salute!