Posted on June 18, 2019 by Whine And Cheers For Wine
Two college friends on the phone being silly and excited about a new wine: “Life is a Cabernet old chum, life is a Cabernet“. So began the story behind this review. A play on song lyrics from days before our time. But we won’t go there. Celebration was in the air. Friends overdue for a wine-tasting and the news that Whine and Cheers for Wine had cracked the TOP 100 WINE BLOGS by Feedspot: Best 100 Wine Blogs, Websites And Newsletters To Follow in 2019.
The stage set; wine glasses, note pads, decanters, Coravin, glass identifiers etc. We were even ready for possible pairings; cheeses, charcuterie, nuts, and chocolates along with water crackers for palate cleansing. I say “possible” pairings because as I told the parties involved: “this is all about the wine”. We may pair, we may not. Eventually we did, but not before spending a long time getting to know the wines individually and comparative.
Hesperian Wines come with quite the pedigree thanks to winemaker Philippe Langner and his hands-on experiences from Bordeaux to South Africa and now California with a Rothschild influence here or there. From Hesperian Wines: California’s persistent call is an inspiration for the name for his domain. Hesperian, or “One of The West,” is a name that invokes the mythical garden of Hesperides, a blissful twilight orchard in the west where Hercules once tricked Atlas into helping him complete his eleventh labor. Today Philippe has chosen to make his home and his life’s work in one place: a steep, rocky, 14-acre vineyard named “Kitoko”, the Congolese Lingala word for “beautiful.” This is the place he has chosen to fulfill his vision, combining his exacting knowledge of viticulture and his constant quest for precision—indeed perfection—in winemaking. The Rest Of the Story