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Z Cuvée, Estate Bottled Santa Ynez Valley

Z Cuvée, Estate Bottled Santa Ynez Valley Wine Details
Price: $18.00 per bottle

Description: Each grape adds its own nuances: Grenache adds rich raspberry flavors; Mourvèdre brings notes of blueberry; Syrah, flavors of blackberry and ripe tannins; and Cinsaut offers a slight earthy/dusty note. These layers of flavor enable this wine to pair with a wide variety of foods from mushroom pizza to rosemary crusted leg of lamb. You can enjoy this wine now or cellar for the next five to seven years.

Varietal Definition
Cinsaut/Cinsault:
Semi-classic grape widely grown in southern France and also in the Lebanon. Used as component in some Cotes du Rhone red wine blends. Transplanted to South Africa, where it was erroneously thought to be a Rhone Hermitage grape, and now a widely grown varietal making a popular red wine in that country, it is also often blended with Cabernet Sauvignon. It has also been used to create the hybrid grape species known as Pinotage.
Grenache:
Grenache Noir is the world’s most widely planted grape used to make red wine, sometimes made into a stand-alone varietal, frequently as a Rosé, but most often as a backbone of red blends. Its strength is its ability to grow in arid and windy conditions. It’s particularly suited to warm coastal regions of California, Spain and France. Grenache-based wines tend to be high in alcohol, with attractive fruit qualities in youth and a sweet berry character.Used as a component in some Northern Rhône reds, nearly exclusively for Rhône Rosés and as the primary component in nearly all Southern Rhône red blends, Grenache is probably most notable as the base varietal for Chateauneuf du Pape, Cotes du Rhône and Gigondas. In spite of its fame coming from French wines, Spain is most likely this grape’s origin.
Syrah:
Syrah is the eight hundred pound gorilla of Rhone grapes! In the vineyard and the winery, Syrah is typically an easy grape to work with - healthy, early ripening, resistant to mildew and rot; suitable for winemaking in a variety of styles. The wines from Syrah are tannic without being harsh. The wines will have a taste and smell of dark blue fruit like blackberries and blackcurrant, with a strong spicy side where one can find freshly ground pepper and other spices. Syrah is famous for its part in the French blends, such as Côtes du Rhone and Châteauneuf du Pape.


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