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More wines available from Charles Smith
750ml
Bottle:
$18.62
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Aromas of fresh picked herbs and wet earth. Rich black cherry and tobacco are followed by hints of lavender on the...
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$20.14
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If you like Cabernet dark and rich, this is your sexy beast. Chocolate, dark cherries, tobacco leaf. It continues...
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$16.24
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Shimmering in the glass. This Chardonnay has a lot of energy. Hibiscus flower, stone fruit, apple blossom & a touch...
750ml
Bottle:
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White stone fruit, white peach, apricot, cool and delicious. Think Fuji apple, shiroplum, lime leaves. Focused and a...
750ml
Bottle:
$17.03
$17.93
Primary red and black berry fruit on the nose. Medium-bodied but very ripe, with bright acidity and a long, spicy...
More Details
Winery
Charles Smith
Vintage: 2010
2010 saw extremely high quality viticulture in many parts of the world, with an exceptionally long and hot summer providing huge benefits for wineries across many countries, especially in the southern hemisphere. The northern hemisphere and Europe saw something of a cooler summer and flowering period, but this was by no means as disastrous as it could have been. France, especially, had a fantastic year in 2010, with the world renowned Burgundy region proclaiming that their white wines of this year are ones to look out for, and despite yields being relatively small across much of the country, the quality was exceptionally high. Spain, too, received some cooler weather, but Rioja and the rest of central Spain are hailing 2010 as a very good year indeed, again as a result of smaller, finer yields. California also received similar climatic conditions, but again, wineries are highly positive about the overall effect this had on their produce, as the slightly challenging conditions resulted in smaller yields of much elegance and distinction.
2010 was really Australia's year, and in South Australia and across the Mornington Peninsula, Chardonnay vines produced good yields with a lower sugar level than in previous years. As such, the majority of South Australian white wines from 2010 are superb, and packed full of character. Shiraz also had a great year, and most Australian wineries have been proclaiming 2010 one of the great vintages. Both the Argentinian and Chilean wine industries benefited from some ideal climatic conditions this year, and are reportedly ecstatically pleased with the fact that their 2010 wines ended up with lower alcohol levels, and were beautifully balanced wines packed full of flavor.
Varietal: Merlot
Merlot is one of those grape varietals which produces wines loved by almost everybody. Single variety Merlot wines tend to be balanced, medium bodied and full of rich and juicy fruit flavors wherever they are produced, which is almost in every wine producing country across the globe. Their wide appeal is partly due to the fact that Merlot, unlike other dark blue grape varietals, have a thinner skin carrying a lower tannin content. This allows wineries to produce wines which are packed full of fruit-forward flavors, and yet have a softer, fleshier and more rounded character making them highly drinkable and easy to pair with a wide variety of foods. As one of the 'Bordeaux varieties', Merlot is used in the production of some of the world's finest and most expensive wines, but is reliable enough and of a high enough quality as a grape to produce a wide range of wines affordable for all.
Region: Washington State
Since it began in the 1820s, wine-production in Washington state has gone from strength to strength, with many of the finest United States wines coming out over the past twenty years hailing from this region. Today, the state is the second largest US producer of wines, behind California, with over forty thousand acres under vine. The state itself is split into two distinct wine regions, separated by the Cascade Range, which casts an important rain shadow over much of the area. As such, the vast majority of vines are grown and cultivated in the dry, arid desert-like area in the eastern half of the state, with the western half producing less than one percent of the state's wines where it is considerably wetter. Washington state is famed for producing many of the most accessible wines of the country, with Merlot and Chardonnay varietal grapes leading the way, and much experimentation with other varietals characterizing the state's produce in the twenty-first century.
Country: United States
The first European settlers to consider growing grapevines in the United States must have been delighted when they discovered the now famous wine regions within California, Oregon and elsewhere. Not even in the Old World are there such fertile valleys, made ideal for vine cultivation by the blazing sunshine, long, hot summers and oceanic breezes. As such, it comes as little surprise that today more than eighty-nine percent of United States wines are grown in the valleys and on the mountainsides of California, where arguably some of the finest produce in the world is found. However, American wine does not begin and end with California, and due to the vast size of the country and the incredible range of terrains and climates found within the United States, there is probably no other country on earth which produces such a massive diversity of wines. From ice wines in the northern states, to sparkling wines, aromatized wines, fortified wines, reds, whites, rosés and more, the United States has endless surprises in store for lovers of New World wines.