The Locations “F” (France) Red Blend is an outlaw wine. If you’re used to California wines, it’s nothing new, but if you’re used to wines from France, it will set your hair on fire! This is a blend of Bordeaux grapes, Rhone grapes, and Roussillon grapes – and if you don’t think that’s strange, go to your local wine shop and try to find a blend like that! This is a French wine. Bordeaux grapes are Bordeaux grapes. Rhone grapes are Rhone grapes, and never the twain shall meet. Until Dave Phinney. He’s the guy behind Orin Swift, and if you don’t know Orin Swift, he’s the guy that brought you the Prisoner. Here he thinks that wines begin in the vineyard, and he picked his favorite grapes from his favorite vineyards. If it’s not ALL from the Rhone, if it’s not ALL from Bordeaux, so be it. Good grapes make good wine. These grapes are aged in oak barrels for 10 months and the alcohol content is a stout 15%.
The color is a translucent garnet. It’s smoked black cherry on the nose, with notes of chocolate, plum, and roses. It has focused flavors – chocolate, tobacco, cherry, blackberry, and licorice. The mid-palate gives up dusty chocolate powder, cranberry, and toasty vanilla. It has balanced acidity and the tannins stay out-of-the-way. It has a nice long finish of black cherry.
French grapes as seen through American eyes. This ain’t yo daddy’s French wine – nothing wrong with French tradition but this is a wine that could only exist today. Modern wine for modern people.
