2019 Olivia Brion 'Les Vagabondes' Tempranillo

2019 Olivia Brion 'Les Vagabondes' Tempranillo

$40.00

-95% Tempranillo, 5% Graciano
-Single Vineyard, Shake Ridge Ranch, Amador County AVA
-13.5% Alcohol
-115 cases produced

92pts Wine Enthusiast

Very good fruit concentration and velvety tannins give a mouth-filling intensity to this full-bodied wine, which was cellared longer than most before its release. The ripe black-fruit flavors are lifted by a slightly grippy texture and everything is in good balance.

Smells great, like red cherry compote, dark pomegranate, dried red rose petals, and cracked black peppercorns. Medium-bodied, loads of fruit yet not overly fruity because of the floral/spicy/earthy flavors going on. Its fine tannins make the wine stand tall. Really lovely…full-flavored yet with graceful restraint. Fantastic food wine. Pair as you would a structured, complex Napa Valley Merlot.  Dan Dawson

Olivia’s “Les Vegabondes” adventure is inspired by Effie Hotchkiss, a single professional woman from Brooklyn, New York. Having never left Brooklyn by her early 20s, Effie dreamed of seeing the world. Overstressed at work, she was counseled by a doctor to “...give up all work and take a complete rest.” She bought a motorcycle with money she inherited upon the death of her father and heeded her mother’s advice, as later quoted in an interview with The Harley Davidson Enthusiast of 1916, “Let’s go to California. It’s the furthest place I can think of. We can see the exposition.” That exposition was the 1915 World’s Fair in San Francisco.

The mother-daughter team left Brooklyn on May 2, 1915 on a Harley Davidson Model 11F with side-car combo. Fame was not their intention, Effie stated, “We merely wanted to see America…” Effie dispatched rattlesnakes and coyotes with a handgun, and wove around dirt roads and mountainous