Mendocino
$25 (Wine Club Reorder Price: $22)
Miro Cellars searches the region for the finest grapes from a variety of vineyards to make their one-of-a-kind specialty wines. Award winning winemaker Miro Tcholakov considers particular geology and seasonal climate variations of each vineyard when selecting the most interesting grapes the region has to offer. Because Miro has complete freedom to make precisely the wines he loves best, the results are a spectacular leap above the expected.
Born and raised in northern Bulgaria, a region with many millennia of winemaking history, Miro (Miroslav) Tcholakov was exposed to wine and winemaking at a very early age. His grandfather had long made the family supply of wine. As a boy, Miro was at his grandfather’s side during all phases of the process. Miro attended the Higher Institute of Agriculture in Plovdiv where he studied viticulture and enology. Soon after graduation, he was chosen from hundreds of candidates to participate in an international exchange program in agriculture set up by The Future Farmers of America. After a few months in Napa, Miro was taken on as harvest intern at Sonoma County’s Dry Creek Vineyard. What was supposed to be a temporary harvest job turned into a nine-year position moving through the ranks from Cellar Master to Assistant Winemaker in 1997. In 1998, Miro went to work as Winemaker for Trentadue Winery and in 2001 he brought on his inaugural bottling of his Petite Sirah which, within a few weeks of its release, received a 90 point score and a “well endowed” write-up from Robert Parker, Jr. in the Wine Advocate.
The goal for the 2019 “Sasha’s Cuvee” was to create a distinctive yet accessible blend. This vintage is a departure from the typical GSM (Grenache-Syrah-Mourvédre) blends, with mostly Grenache and the rest Syrah. What Miro loves about Grenache is the seductively inviting aromas of jammy strawberries, dry cherries, plums, and cranberry with a hint of dry rose petals and Potpourri that makes you smell the wine over and over again. The mouthfeel is clean, fresh, and lively, without any heaviness with a focused acidity and food-friendly softness. The food pairings for this wine are endless – but our favorite would be a sage & rosemary roasted chicken.
Jennie Kaplan Woodson – May 2021
Bacchus & Venus Wines 