Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/977771
104 / the tasting panel / may 2018 SPEED TASTING SPEED TASTING WINE #7 CHÂTEAU LAMOTHE-CASTÉRA 2016 CUVÉE MARGAUX BORDEAUX Château Lamothe Castéra's elegant Bordeaux blend of 85% Cabernet Sauvignon and 15% Merlot suggested to some sommeliers that its provenance was Saint-Émilion. "Nothing could make me happier, as we have always been Right Bank fans," said Director of Sales Ryan Stotz. "Here's your big, strapping, inky Bordeaux with a voluminous nose and just enough grip. We like flowers, we like ele- gance, we like soul—but we realized that Cab is king. We told grower Renaud Jean, who works in the heart of Entre-Deux-Mers, that we were looking for great Cab at a certain price point for the States, and we went to him because of his iconoclastic insistence on growing and using Cabernet Sauvignon in Entre-Deux-Mers. We went with the highest altitude he had, the best he had. We were lucky to have our first vintage in 2015 and are even luckier in 2016." THE PANEL SAYS: Ripe dark fruit, butter popcorn/toasty oak. Minty green, wet rocks, and black licorice. — Paul Ozbrin Fresh spring greens immediately pop out of the glass of fresh grass and bell pepper. Followed by black cherry and crunchy gravel and pencil lead shavings. —Mandi Nelson WINE #8 CHARLES SMITH WINES 2015 BOOM BOOM! SYRAH, COLUMBIA VALLEY James Korrodi, Sales Manager–On Premise at Constellation Brands, presented Charles Smith's Wines' Boom Boom! Syrah. Ryan Stotz, Director of Sales for JP Bourgeois, presented the Château Lamothe-Castéra 2016 Bordeaux.