I'm BACK!

That's right, the Wino has returned!  After a couple of years of pregnancy, new baby haze, and general chaos, life is finally settling back into a routine and the Wino Files begin again. 

My first musing to offer...

Randall Graham of Bonny Doon, one of my favorite eclectic winemakers and a pioneer of California Rhone-style wine, makes an absolutely amazing, big mourvedre called Old Telegram. 

Winemaker notes from Bonny Doon:

This is an amazingly concentrated wine, un vrai monstre. We are so pleased to be back in the Telegram business again, having just inked a long-term contract with our friends, the Del Barbas of Oakley and environs. This wine made entirely from very old (100 yr.) mourvedre.

The extra time on the vine has given the wine an extremely complex, aromatic profile and a modicum of finesse, its outsized physique notwithstanding.

I have enjoyed this wine repeatedly, as it was on the menu at one of our favorite restaurants.  We loved the wine so much, we would actually go to Jaspers JUST for the purpose of having that wine with our dinner.

Recently, my husband's step-father shared with me a wonderful Chateauneuf du Pape (around 15% mourvedre) from... Domaine du Vieux Telegraphe.  

Old Telegram, inspired by Vieux Telegraphe?  I'd love to know.  Alas, since moving away from California, the odds of my getting a chance to ask the winemaker are quite slim.  Anyone out there have an insight?

Thus run the musings of the Wino Files.