A serious wine, made in a Bordeaux style but with New World fruit and personality. It’s a blend of 73 percent Sauvignon Blanc and 27 percent Sémillon, hand harvested and sorted, whole-cluster pressed, with the free-run juice fermented mostly in French oak. It spent seven months on lees prior to bottling.
It’s a stony wine, slightly reductive at first, but with some warmth and air begins to yield a scent of preserved lemons, birch bark, and leafy wet forest. The body is ample, propped on a framework of wood and savory fruits. The finish is slightly bitter but also expansive, with a snap of lemon rind and pith, lemon drop, sassafras and ginger.
This wine that needs food with a light tint but savory edge: grilled poultry, brown-butter dressed fish, roasted cauliflower. Also try rich shellfish dressed in drawn butter, savory spiced couscous or pilafs, and rich, medium-aged cow’s and sheep’s milk cheeses.
14.1% abv | $38 (sample)
Back in 1999 when I visited Washington, DeLille was a big deal. They completely disappeared from the radar, as the scene was overtaken by Quilceda and other wineries. Glad to know they are still around.
This wine is a contender. I was unfamiliar with their portfolio but would seek out other examples based on this one.