Moraga Bel Air Wines visited Scottsdale recently to share with us two of their wines, the 2016 Moraga White and 2014 Moraga Red.
Located in the Santa Monica Mountains of Los Angeles, Moraga Bel Air vineyards and winery is one of the most unique wine estates in California. The property was originally the home of Victor Fleming, director of Gone with the Wind and The Wizard of Oz. It is now owned by Rupert Murdoch and there is 6.9 planted acres on the 14-acre property.
We absolutely loved both the 2016 Moraga White ($115) and 2014 Moraga Red ($175).
2016 Moraga White – Twenty percent of the juice was put in new French oak barrels and the remaining 80% was placed in stainless steel barrels. After three weeks, the wine in the oak barrels was used to top up the stainless-steel barrels, where the wine aged on the lees until the following August when it was racked from barrel and prepared for bottling. Fresh peaches, honeysuckle, wet slate, and a hint of pineapple tickle your olfactory bulb on first examination. The nose is effusive and mirrored on the palate. The flavors are focused ripe peach, along with mandarin and lemon zest. There is a delicious core of sweet ripe fruit. The texture is unusually plush and voluptuous, as well as very mouth-coating. There is a tremendous tension between the acidity and decadent texture.
2014 Moraga Red –The wine was bottled in mid-August 2015 and was bottle-aged for just shy of two years before release. The aroma of the wine nearly jumps out of the glass. Signature notes of tobacco, briar, and tar balance the predominant cassis in the nose. This wine is dense and well-built, but lively and energetic. Tannins are very firm, yet very fine, smooth, and supple. Flavors of black cherry meld with blueberry, sweet saddle leather, and pipe tobacco. The tannins build to a very persistent finish.
You can find Maraga Bel Air Wines at Mountain Shadows resort in Paradise Valley and Cafe Monarch in Old Town Scottsdale. To shop Moraga Bel Air Wines, visit moragabelair.com.