Deerfield 2002 Super T Rex
From the Winery
The greatest Italian wines come from Tuscany, where winemakers added
California and French techniques to their grape growing and winemaking
to produce the best of these, known as the Super Tuscan wines. Super
T-Rex honors these wines and the Rex family's Italian heritage.
Super T-Rex is a Meritage style wine with an Italian bent. It's a French
girl in a Ferrari. It has the forward fruitiness and lovely varietal
characteristics of a Sangiovese, with the depth and complexity of a
Meritage blend.
Our style is state-of-the-art Californian, beginning with a partnership between grower and winemaker. We let our grapes get fully vine ripened, then hand pick and hand sort each bunch. The winemaking techniques are gentle and meticulous, resulting in this wine with a brilliant garnet hue, full expression of the fruit flavors, well-integrated oak and layered
complexity. The nose and flavors fill every corner of the palate, lingering
into a long finish.
Each component wine was fermented and aged separately for the first year. The blend was done at the end of that year
and returned to the barrel for a second full year of barrel aging in French
and American barrels. The wine is unfined and coarsely screened at
bottling.
Tasting Notes
The 2002 Super T-Rex follows the tasty inaugural 2001 vintage. The blend varies a bit from the '01, as the blends are always done by taste. The grape varieties are the same, using the Sangiovese-based Super Tuscan wines as the model. Sangiovese forms the backbone, Cabernet Franc take flavors and aromas to the upper palate, Cabernet Sauvignon takes them back into a long lingering finish and Dolcetto (an Italian blending variety and occasionally bottled on its own, in the Piedmont) adds to the lower and side palate. The result is a full taste experience - fruit up front supported by a complexity of layered aromas and flavors - without aggressiveness or ponderosity.
Super T-Rex will pair superbly with many foods, especially Mediterranean cuisine. It is very enjoyable now, and due to its structure and stability, will age well.
| Composition | 71% Sangiovese 15% Cabernet Franc 10% Cabernet Sauvignon 4% Dolcetto |
| Appellation | Napa and Sonoma Counties |
| Aged for | 12 months |
| Aged in | French & American oak |
| Bottled | May 3, 2004 |
| Awards | SILVER MEDAL 2005 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition |
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