It is always wonderful to be surprised when you receive a wine club shipment, of course from A Touch of Monterey, they ship three bottles at a time, and I normally only discuss two bottles of wine at any given time.  The main reason is that I have published for over ten years an article every other day and then I can “advertise” two different wines on Facebook and Instagram; and then I can start all over again. I have thought about cutting back, but I am already feeling lazy as it is, so I guess I will just continue having a glass of wine and try to concentrate. 

We received a bottle of Scott Family Estate Chardonnay Dijon Clones Arroyo Seco 2019. The funny thing is that Scott Family Estate is from Carneros in Napa Valley and is actually part of the much larger Rutherford Ranch Winery of Napa Valley, and they actually have a total of nine different labels and the wines can be tasted at their tasting room in Rutherford, Napa Valley.  The winery is named after the owner’s grandfather, and this wine is produced from Dijon Clones grown on the Arroyo Seco estate.  The estate has gravely soil, with hot days and cool evenings and almost a month longer growing season that is found in Napa Valley, so the region is perfect both for Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.  The wine was aged for ten months in a combination of Stainless Steel and new and old French and American Oak. The aging potential is for five to six years. The wine has been written up as offering notes of stone-fruit, green apple and sweet oak.  On the palate tones of citrus and minerals with a creamy soft finish and some bright acidity.

Comanche Cellars Petite Sirah San Antonio Valley AVA 2019 is from a small winery that produces under a thousand cases of wine, and it is named after the horse that Michael Simon had when he was ten years old, and Comanche’s horse shoes are on the label. Michael Simon has created some long-standing relationships within Monterey and maintains a tasting room in Carmel-by-the-Sea.  San Antonio Valley AVA is a rather isolated district in Monterey and it is considered rather high in altitude, which allows intense sunshine during the day and much cooler evenings. The soil is alluvial, made of clay, loam and gravel and free draining.  This is a new varietal for the winery and it was aged for twenty-eight months in American Oak, of which half is new.  There were eighty-nine cases produced.  The wine is described as having notes of dark fruit, vanilla and bay leaf.  On the palate it is said to be big and bold with velvety tannins.  and they stress that you won’t confuse it with Syrah.