Calistoga Tempranillo - Spanish Grape, Napa Price

Clay and Brenda Cockerell are newcomers to winemaking, having settled in Calistoga in 2005 . The Coquerel Family Wine Estate sits near the Mayacamas Mountains, just north of Calistoga in the Napa Valley. Their plot, Walnut Wash Vineyard, bears Sauvignon Blanc grapes for their flagship wines as well as Tempranillo for this one.

Coquerel Winemaker Christine Barbe, a product of Bordeaux, herself,  made 74 cases of this wine, which is aged in neutral oak for 20 months and registers 14% abv. The wine retails for $42.

For a wine with such a highly concentrated hue, the Coquerel Calistoga Tempranillo 2011 has a rather faint set of aromas. Blackberry comes forward, timidly. Nice to get a whiff of smoke at the top of the glass. The black fruit is large on the palate and a strong sense of earth and minerals, is present. It's a savory quaff, with oak spice on that minerality. It’s a good wine, very good, but at twice the price of an excellent Rioja it can hardly be considered a deal.


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