March 17, 2014: Acustic Cellar Montsant White Wine 2010

            For St. Patrick's Day, I made a Guinness Beef Stew. I wouldn't think to serve a white wine with that meal, but that did not deter my husband. He chose the Acustic Cellar Blanc 2010. And it went pretty well with all the veggies and the background of Guiness and tomatoes.

          This is a modestly priced Spanish white blend of Garnacha 60%<, Macabeu 25%, Pink Garnacha 10% and Pansal 5% grown in the Catalonia region.  These are not grapes we encounter on a daily basis in Knoxville. The vineyards for this winery are about 45-60 years old.

          I really love the vineyards' tasting notes on this wine, because they contain such improper English, but still transmit their passion for wine making:

"Our philosophy to create this wine, claim and look for the roots and the value of traditional viticulture, by processing without makeup or current technologies such as other wines.
Fine wines, elegant personal and express the characteristics of our vineyards sages quite naturally."

          Really, it's hard to add to that! This wine is 30% blended from oak barrels.

JUST THE FACTS

This wine pours a very clear and straw yellow.

On the nose, we detected citrus especially orange and a hint of honey. The winery also mentions wild flower .

On the palate, there is again the citrus and honey components as well as a faint hint of butter and just a tad of oak. Other tasting notes have mentioned peach as well. 

We found the finish to be short and not overly complex.

Cellaring will likely not add anything to the taste on this product, but we are drinking it at four years old and didn't get exactly the profile that is typical to the internet drinker a couple of years back.

Ratings are pretty consisently between 88-91. I'd give it a solid 90. (So did Robert Parker!)

We purchased this for $19 at Asheville Wine Market,  but I do see it listed at various  locations for $2-3 less. The closest seller I see on wine locator is The Wine Merchant in Cincinnati.




WINE QUOTE OF THE DAY:

“We all need something to help us unwind at the end of the day. You might have a glass of wine, or a joint, or a big delicious blob of heroin to silence your silly brainbox of its witterings but there has to be some form of punctuation, or life just seems utterly relentless.” 
― Russell Brand, My Booky Wook

(I think Paul and I will just stick to the wine!)