I love wine. For me, wine is ministry. It facilitates relationships. It’s about enjoying taste and smell, the feel of the wine in the mouth, and most of all the community of friends that gather around a good bottle. It’s a God-thing. This blog is a place for fellow wine ministers (and those who need ministering) to share good wines and the stories that accompany them. Cheers!
2006 Saarloos & Sons Ring Effie Unk Santa Ynez Valley
Bordeaux-Style Blend (85% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Cabernet Franc)
USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Ynez Valley
Wine Rating: 94
Uncorked: 2009.08.22 Jeff’s Birthday Dinner – served with farmer’s market finds on the grill
Concentrated and intricate, expressive and lush, elegant and delicious. There is something really special going on in this bottle of wine, and at this young age it is just beginning to demonstrate its moxy. The color is beautifully dense and saturated. Earthiness in the nose with dark berries and currants, coffee, graphite, and hints of wildflowers. Delicately extracted yet concentrated fruit flavors show remarkable restraint. Blackberry, ripe plum, and slightly sweet blueberry are balanced with good structure and body. Flavors of the vineyard itself come through with earthiness, dried herbs, and shale. Solid tannins lead to a lingering finish. Focused, sensuous, and very memorable.
$48.00 Purchased from the winery
Story about the unique name of the wine:
What is RING EFFIE UNK? Ring, Effie, and Unk are the names of family members that lived together. Ring and Effie were married and his brother, whom everyone called Unk, came to live with them. Leave a blend of personalities together for a extended period of time and no longer are they individuals but a entirely new family. They went so far as to have the names on the sign on their home include them all.