The 2010 Brassfield Estate Serenity Proprietary White Blend is 65% Sauvignon Blanc, 28% Pinot Grigio and 7% Gewurztraminer sourced from sustainably grown Brassfield Estate vineyards located in the High Valley sub AVA of the Lake County AVA (just north of Napa) in Northern California. The grapes were grown, the wine was produced and bottled, all on Brassfield Estate property, selling for as little as $7.99 online, I found it selling in Chicago for $8.99. That, is specifications and prices you see for wines from South America or some out of the way place in Spain, not for wine from Northern California. The alcohol content is 13.7%.
The color pale daisy yellow. The nose is grapefruit, peach, pear and pineapple, but not bright and crisp, more like they had been marinated in honey. This wine has a nice full mouthfeel, there seems to be a little weight to it. It tastes of sliced peaches, Anjou pear, pineapple packed in heavy syrup and orange slice jelly candy. The mid palate brings a slap of acidity from pink grapefruit, a soft dose of minerality and a little mandarin orange. The acidity is very well balanced, the Serenity would make an excellent food wine. The acidity allows the fruit and citrus finish to last until you take the next sip.
The Brassfield Estate Serenity White is a lot of wine for the money, an Estate wine doing battle with Brand wine. With the Serenity, you get terrior (translates to sense of place or the effects soil and weather have on grapes grown on a particular area of land), something you rarely experience with wines in this price range. This is a flavorful, balanced wine that you would take to a BYOB regardless of the price of the meal. Often food wines need the meal to find balance, they are not all that pleasant to drink on their own, but the Serenity is flat-out delicious, the citrus and the acidity are an integral part of the flavor profile. Support Estate grown, produced and bottled wines, they are fighting the good fight against factory wines, while proving you don’t have to charge an arm and a leg to deliver a satisfying wine.
