From Woodbridge to Leonardo Family Vineyards 2002 Cabernet Syrah - Lodi

My last wine posting was for the 2001 Select Vineyard Series Woodbridge Cabernet from Lodi. I think I left off on an “uninspiring” note. Today’s selection comes from the same area – yes Lodi again – but quite a distance away in terms of the size of the business behind the wine. In 2003, a bit of googling reveals that Woodbridge shipped 1.9 million cases. Not all of that was the Select Vineyard Series, of course, but let’s just say they’re a big outfit. Leonardo Family Vineyards, on the other hand, is a pretty small outfit and I like juxtaposing one against the other, particularly when the Leonardo Cab Syrah is already sitting there on the rack and begging to be opened. For this particular wine, there were 800 cases produced.

In fact, these folks don’t really have a winery you can visit. Instead, they’re do their tastings at the Vino Piazza. That translates to ‘the wine plaza’ in Italian and it’s a little place with about a dozen wineries clustered in a type of mall out in the middle of nowhere near Lockeford California.

I’m not going to suggest that because they’re smaller they’re any better. But in this particular instance, I think I enjoyed this wine a bit more. This wine is 60% Cabernet Sauvignon and 40% Syrah. I again paired this up with some grilled steak (ribeye). There’s some nice fruity raspberry and spice and a decent amount of mouth feel to this wine. It complemented and was not overwhelmed by the food.

Technorati tag: wine

Price

About $12.

Overall

 better than I expected. If I could find another bottle locally, It’s a good bet I’d snag it.