Tasting notes and guide how to bring out the best in these beauties
It’s a big day for us at Binivista - but also somewhat anxiety-provoking!
We are finally ready to send you our first “real” red wines to you our Binivista Family members. All the 4 red wines are from our 2020 harvest and we have tried to produce 4 very different wines, so you already now get an idea about the vast opportunities we have with our many grape varieties.
Keeping in mind that our vines are still really young and the grapes for these 4 wines were picked when the plants were just 2 1/2 years old, we are super happy and impressed about the quality of wine we can already now produce.
Here below you’ll find tasting notes and some other guidelines that Marie compiled a few days ago. In general it’s super important that these young wines (that were bottled just this past month of October) are served in the right wine glasses and at the right temperature. It’s also key that you let all 4 wines aerate well as described below. We will send out a separate newsletter where we will talk in detail about glassware and serving, but would like to already now emphasise, that your choice of wine glass is way more important than you think, also if you not the geekiest of wine geeks!
Given the fact that all these wines need quite a bit a air, the size of the glass is important. The same is the shape, to let the aroma express itself it in the best way possible. We recommend that you use either Zalto Bordeaux or Riedel Veritas Old World Syrah.
Remember that you can always find more information about the wines on the website and also simply by scanning the QR code on the back label.
Enjoy the wines, and we would of course love you feedback, so please share your experiences on Facebook
2020 Teix (Callet: 50%, Pinot Noir: 50%)
Elegant and charming nose with lots of red berries like strawberry, raspberry and some red cherries. With some time and air it also shows floral notes and some delicious candied orange peel and even almond paste.
On the palate its vibrant, pure and packed with energy. This is a very bright red wine with the same dynamic and pure red berry notes as in the nose and lots of wonderful juicy freshness.The tannis are already silky soft and it’s definitely the charming fruit that takes centre stage here.
The perfect wine for a Vitello tonnato! Or even a pasta with a light tomato sauce and fresh basil!
I can also imagine this with a nice charcuterie plate with some ham and pates and not too spicy sausages.
This is a happy wine! A wine intended to be enjoyed young and fresh. It’d ready now after 5-10 minutes in the glass with some good swirling action, but even better after 30 min in a decanter and always at around 16C. This will age well over the next 12-16 months, but is ready to offer you uncomplicated drinking pleasure right now!
2020 Santa Magdalena (Syrah: 35%, Grenache: 31%, Callet: 26%, Pinot Noir: 8%)
Polished dark nose with mulberries, plums and dark cherries at first. Then it unfolds with cranberries, eucalyptus, liquorice and graphite. There’s quite a lot going on here! But it’s also a blend of a lot of different varieties ;-)
On the palate it’s welcoming, juicy and round. The lush dark fruit from the nose dominates here with some nice spiciness backing it up. The tannins are smooth and, but present, and provide a great backbone for the wine, together with the ripe and vibrant acidity.
This immediately makes me think of pigeon, the more bloody the better! Served with a classic cherry sauce. On a less extravagant day; juicy, pink duck breast with crispy skin and served with a spinach, pomegranate salad with pinenuts.
This is a dark, but polished and elegant wine …. It’s like a beautiful elegant lady in a long silk dress! It’s not speaking with its muscles, but its intellect and sophistication. It’s complex, but not heavy.
This drinks already super well after 5-10 minutes in a great wine glass and some swirling, and serve at 16C to bring out all it’s beauty. This will “grow up” and into further harmony over the next 4-6 months and can age happily some 18 months after that, but it’s already delicious so open a bottle a month or every second month (if you can wait!) and follow how it spreads its beautiful wings over time.
2020 Sa Rateta (Syrah: 100%)
Magical, mysterious dark nose. It’s highly sophisticated, even aristocratic! Layers of dark fruit intertwined seamlessly with chocolate, coffee and exotic spice. The more air = the more complexity here so play around with it in the glass.
On the palate it’s lush, dark and shows an impressive texture… It’s like liquid black velvet. Dark cherries, blackberries, chocolate, sweet liquorice and some crushed red peppercorns. The tannins are perfectly integrated and adds structure and oomph to the fruit. I just love the long finish of this wine with it’s delish dark fruit and a kick of this perfectly smooth orange-like acidity.
This wine calls for deer or venison, but served as red as possible. Young wines like all these in general functions best with red meat! Even the best piece of sirloin will work wonders here. I’d keep the dish as simple as possible to let the wine shine together with a beautiful piece of game or beef and simple sides like a spinach salad and some fries. This shows beautiful already now in the right glass, some 5-10 minutes of patience and some swirling TLC. However, this will for sure grow into something even more beautiful with a bit of time in the bottle. So my recommendations would be to open a bottle now, and as with Santa Magdalena follow it unfolding it’s beauty over the next 6-8 months, but this will “never” grow old and can easily keep 2-3 years or more.
2020 Randa (Pinot Noir: 100%)
Oh wow! I just had to write that. There’s so much going on here. Strawberry jam of the very best kind made from wild berries, almond- and orange blossom, menthol liquorice, candied orange peel and dark ripe cherries. This really opens up with some air so be patient with it in the right glasses or decant it 30-60 min before serving it.
Juicy, impressive, bold and beautiful on the palate. This is a big wine with a lot of everything! It’s packed with fruit, both red and darker berries. The tannins are firm but of super high quality and beautifully integrated already. The acidity is high, but breathes a wonderful freshness and energy into the wine and will help it mature into something even bigger and more beautiful. My first though here was that this is a wine that I’d love to enjoy on it’s own! With the right music and human company ;-) A meditation wine if you wish.
But it will most definitely also make the partner partner for your Christmas duck with all the traditional trimmings. It has both the sweet fruit, tannin and acidity to handle even the red cabbage. On a less Christmassy moment I’d cook a BIG and well matured “Chuleton” on the bone. Seared hard on the surface and bloody in the core. Let the fat marbling create magic with the acidity of the wine and serve with some simple grilled vegetables and drizzle with plenty of the freshest olive oil you can get your hands on…. Heaven!
So I obviously just recommended that you should enjoy this now this very Christmas, in like a month from now. It’s however also the one of these four wines that will benefit most from ageing so my recommendation here is open 1-2 bottles for Christmas, but decant them 2-3 hours before serving and serve at no more than 18C. Keep the rest of the bottles for at least another 3-4 months before continuing having fun with them and drink them over the next 3-4 years, if you can wait that long!
One last note about Randa. Due to a very gentle filtration there might be a bit of deposit in these bottles. The best way to handle this is very simply to pour the last couple of centimeters very slowly and just stop when the sediment starts to show.
