Each and every winery claims its latest release will be something special, but most of the time they are about as special as last month's bagels.
When Delecato Family Vineyards introduced a new release dubbed Belle Ambiance, we greeted it with a rather casual, somewhat cautious and very indifferent attitude.
Belle Ambiance, which translates from French as “beautiful place,” brought to mind some of the poorer wines with fancy sounding names that we have sampled over the years that were all name and no character. The only saving grace as we viewed the Belle Ambiance bottles was they were from Delecato, a winery known for good wines at good prices;
We tasted it, and we were amazed. Delecato had done it again; they made a wine that sells for an affordable price while offering quality and flavor in gigantic proportions.
In making the Belle Ambiance series of wines, Delecato vintners concentrated their efforts on flavor. Using their years of experience, the wines they crafted accentuate and amplify fruit flavors over all of the other attributes of a wine. The Belle Ambiance wines are actually dry, but their strength in the fruit flavors department gives the impression of sweetness, resulting in good wines at good prices that are a perfect dinner time beverage.
Belle Ambiance 2012 Pinot Noir ($10) With our Samurai sword in hand and ready to chop, we approached this pinot noir with expectations of a monumental disappointment; we left with smiles on our faces. The Belle Ambiance 2012 Pinot Noir is not only a good wine; it is an exceptional wine for the price.
Delecato vintners created this wine by aging only a portion of the wine in French oak barrels, which resulted in a classically styled wine that is not classically heavy on fruit. The color is on the light side, a trait common to California pinot noirs, while the aroma stresses cherry and a noticeable hint of blackberry in the background. The flavor continues the cherry and blackberry in copious amounts and finishes in a soft cloud of summer fruit. This is a nice wine worth much more than its reasonable price.
Belle Ambiance 2013 Pinot Grigio ($10) There can be no question that this Italian expatriate is one of the most popular wines to come out of Italy since the Chianti craze of the 1970s.
The wine is dry, crisp and pleasant, with the flavor and aroma of summer fruits, most specifically apricots. There is also an understated raisin-like quality coupled with the acid bite of limes. In the background, there is the expected earthy flavor so typical of Italian wines. While this wine can accompany anything that calls for a dry white wine, it should be considered pasta's best friend. One taste and you will know why pinot grigio is among the most popular Italian white wines in this country and a must try.
Belle Ambiance 2012 Chardonnay ($10)This wine is a big and happy exception to the basic rule of less expensive chardonnay wines, which is they are usually light, flimsy little things with none of the true chardonnay flavor and nothing at all to recommend them. While the Belle Ambiance 2012 Chardonnay may be in the easily affordable category, the wine is nothing at all like the others.
It presents the true and classical chardonnay aromas of apple and pear right up front. In the mouth, these aromas give way to tropical fruits and melon, perfectly combined with a light, mild oak. With all that has been said and written about chardonnay wines in the past, present and probably future, all we can add is to try the Belle Ambiance 2012 Chardonnay. We are sure you will not be disappointed.
Nixa resident Bennet Bodenstein is a wine columnist and manages ArticlesOnWine.com. He can be reached at frojhe1@att.net.
