Ferrari-Carano Siena [Blend]
When most of us think Ferrari, we think of exotic Italian sports cars, hyper cars capable of obscene speeds that mustachioed men with dark hair ramble around Hawaii in, but this case, it’s well applied to both the various estates making up this winery and the wines themselves, which take aim squarely at the higher end, perhaps echoing the cars. As to the story goes, Don Carano, who founded the vineyard with his wife Rhonda, meant it to be for his Italian grandmother, who had the same surname, but the extra nod to the sports car maker from the same country certainly didn’t hurt and was probably intentional, considering both the Caranos were strong in advertising and marketing backgrounds. It’s an interesting side note, if nothing else, but irrelevant compared to what’s in the actual bottles.
Long have I eyed those bottles on the racks, passing them by time and again because they fell too far over the HSC’s $20 upper limit. At times, I will blow by that if there is a wine I really want to try, but too often it has just been me paying more without a commensurate increase in quality and in those cases, I would have been better served to fall back to my standard bearer, the Dark Horse Big Red Blend. Also, I try to restrict my purchases to the list criteria (see first post). The HSC is not solely for fun, after all, but is meant to be practical as well. So, much joy and zero hesitation when I found it on SPA, which put it just below the upper limit for the HSC pricing entry point.
The wine did not, in any way, disappoint. While it was perhaps not everything I would have wanted it to be, it is, to my knowledge, the first to contain the Sangiovese. In this blend, we also see Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon & Petite Sirah to round things out. The taste is a bit difficult to describe easily, so you may want to get a couple bottles to more come to terms with it. This applies if you change years, as this is a bit of an inconsistent wine, with variations from year to year, following the grapes. Ferrari-Carano refers to it as a “chameleon”, clever of them, but I doubt anything less than top notch would be allowed to be stocked with their label on it, so no fears there.
The bottle I had was very easy sipping, but additionally rather complex and I kept trying to pin down a lot of the tasting notes. Certainly somewhat fruity, but not in at all a sugary way, with elements of chocolate, cherry and the darker berries having a presence, but some additional elements, such as perhaps a nutmeg or cola in there as well. It is very smooth and elegant in the mouth, refined, with a strong depth and one of the better finishes of almost anything else on the list.
If I see this again on SPA, I will definitely re-stock, but if it’s not on SPA, it is cost-prohibitive to this list, so it is then SPA only. I would, of course, drink it again without hesitation, SPA or not, but in keeping with the guidelines, this is more a factor of necessity. This definitely feels splurge-y, without a high splurge cost attached and if your leaning is more towards wine enthusiast, this is definitely one not to miss if you haven’t yet experienced it.
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