One of the joys of unpacking a carton from my wine club is to see all the goodies that I will find.  I have to admit that I am like a kid in a candy shop with some coins in my hand, and I remember penny candy.  “A Taste of Monterey” besides packing three bottles of wine to send me on a quarterly basis, also puts a brochure about the wines that I am receiving.  The brochure also had a nice article about terroir, or as I put it bluntly as dirt, that ethereal quality about the grounds that imparts flavor that other areas seem to be lacking.  It is terroir that helps to explain the mystery of the districts and sub-districts in Burgundy where the price can change astronomically in plots almost side by side.  It is also the reason that here in America we have our AVA designations, because some areas are just so unique for growing some grapes that become awesome wines.

Monterey is one such designation that has a known quality about the soil, or lack of soil.  Ground that might be terrible for some food stocks, is wonderful for grapes as they have to struggle to grow and to ripen.   Coastview Vineyard of Soledad, California has produced a wine that is from the mountain area of the Gabilan Mountains overlooking the Salinas Valley and the Monterey Bay.  The soil is decomposed granite with veins of limestone add to the makeup of the terroir and coupled with being a mountainous vineyard imbues the grapes with a taste that other acres will not have.

The Coastview Cuvée S.A. Andrée 2010 is a red wine blend, evoking the adventures of a Jules Verne novel as it depicts an old school hot-air balloon, and the cuvee is named for the Swedish balloonist Salomon August Andrée who attempted to pass over the North Pole with two companions, scientific equipment, homing pigeons and several crates of Champagne; a man ready for anything.  This wine is a Claret blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot.  I couldn’t find any production notes for this wine, but the aging potential is for eight to ten years and they only produced one-hundred-twenty-five cases of this wine.  I would say this wine would be a perfect match for some steaks or a standing rib roast.  I will let you know.