Colete Wine White Wine Napa Valley
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Colete is a Napa Valley merlot designed by Rajat Parr and Marie Vayron Ponsonnet. They find their inspiration in Pomerol, Merlotโs defining place and where Marie happened to grow up! The best Pomerol Merlots unite disparate characteristicsโthey are soft, round, and fleshy, yet also textured, structured, and sharp, with deep earthy flavors of plum, dark berries, and mineral. The animating drive behind the Colete project is to find the best terroirs in Napa Valley for Merlot, and to produce high-quality wine from there, restoring honor to a once-fashionable grape that is still bashed today. The first vintage, 2017, has been vinified using traditional Bordeaux methods, along with a minimalist approach in both vineyard and cellar. To allow this hands-off philosophy, Rajat and Marie had the firm conviction they needed certified organically grown vines. It took them about two years to find the grapes. This wine was born from a friendship between a Pinot Noir lover and a woman raised on Merlot. Rajat and Marie met in 2014 during La Paulee in San Francisco. Marie had just moved to the United States to start her sommelier career in New York and had no inkling how much Rajat would impact her love for wine. Their acquaintance continued to impact Marieโs life, as she discovered Rajatโs Santa Barbara wines - Sandhi and Domaine de La Cote. In 2015, she joined Rajatโs team to work harvest as an intern. It was a life changing experience as she fell in love with California, never expecting to find wines with such terroir, texture, and complexity. Of course, Marie was already familiar with viticulture and winemaking, as she grew up on her familyโs vineyard, Chateau Bourgneuf, in Pomerol, France. Her father and sister, Xavier and Frederique Vayron, still run the winery and make a classic Pomerol wineโvibrant and balanced, from soils of blue clay with traces of oxidized iron. Marieโs Pomerol origins, combined with a newfound love of California, inspired her to create a Merlot from Napa terroir.