My Bride and I were finishing off with our tasting fun at “Sip & Shop” at Vertical Detroit, and then we were going to attend another wine tasting at The Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan which also curates and selects the wines for the restaurant.

She started off with Castell d’Encus Ekam Pyrenees, Spain 2021.  Costers del Segre DO is a collection of subregions located in Catalonia, meaning ¨Banks of the Segre¨ a river which originates in the Pyrenees Mountain ranges and meets the Ebro River.  The designation was created in 1986 and has had a few evolutions since its inception.  There are seven fragmented subregions with a mix of soil and climatic conditions.  In the mid 1980´s Raul Bobet was searching in the Pyrenees to plant his vines.  Castell d´Encus began in 2001 near the historical remains of an ancient medieval village of the same name.  The ruins of a monastery belonging to the monks of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem dating from the 12^th Century who began planting vines and producing wine using limestone vats cut by hand to ferment the original wines.  The winery is using the same type of vats, and indigenous wild yeasts.  Ekam means ¨divine unity¨ in Sanskrit.  This wine is a blend of eighty five percent Riesling and fifteen percent Albarino.  A soft straw-colored wine with notes of peaches, geraniums, and a bit of jasmine.  On the palate a crisp dry wine with good acidity that features tones of apricots and a medium count finish of terroir.

We tried Frank Family Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 2021.  Frank Family Vineyards is located in the Calistoga region of Napa Valley.  On their grounds is an historic stone building listed as a Point of Historical Interest and was a former winery.  The building is from the original Larkmead Vineyards, and was built in 1884.  In the 1950’s it was used as the base for Kornell Champagne Cellars and in 1992 was bought by Rich Frank, the former President of Walt Disney Studios.   The fruit for this wine is from the estate’s S&J Vineyard in Napa’s Capell Valley, their Benjamin Vineyard in Rutherford along with neighboring estates Quarry Vineyard and Round Pond Estate, and also from Delouise and Shooting Star Vineyard in Napa Valley.  The wine is eighty-seven percent Cabernet Sauvignon, six percent Merlot, five percent Petite Verdot, and two percent Cabernet Franc.  The wine is aged for twenty months in French Oak, of which a third is new.  The deep garnet colored wine offers notes of blackberries, violets, vanilla, and cedar.  On the palate tones of baked blueberry pie, vanilla, nutmeg, all blended seamlessly with fresh acidity, silky tannins and a nice medium count of fruit and spices.

Then we finished the tasting with The Pledge 1000 Malbec Mendoza, Argentina 2017 and is part of the Stellenview umbrella, a South African wine producer and exporter internationally.  The Pledge 1000 is a small batch wine produced by winemaker Richard Bonvin and is sourced from five vineyards (Altamira, Gualtallary, Tupungato, La Consulta, and Agrelo) in the Uco Valley at the base of the Andes one-thousand meters above sea level.  The wine is aged for twenty-four months in a mix of barrels with some new French Oak.  A deep purple wine that offers notes of ripe plums, balsamic, baking spices.  On the palate there were tones of ripe plums and other red berries in a rich concentration, grilled bell peppers, thyme, blended with good acidity, fine tannins, coffee, dark chocolate, and a finish that evoked some smoke and oxidation.