the wine...

The stylistic goal of angelica cellars is to produce outstanding wines with honest varietal characteristics that proudly express their place of origin.

Culling grapes from the esteemed White Hawk Vineyard in the Los Alamos Valley in Santa Barbara, California makes our job easy. The cool climate less than a marathon’s run from the Pacific creates a perfect home for even-ripening grapes with higher natural acidity. The infernally porous sandy soils push the roots of the vineyard to dig down deep for their water and, consequently, pull up incredible minerality and complexity in flavor.

Low yields, a minimal cold-soak, native fermentation, and maturation in neutral French oak encourage the wine to be what it was meant to be with little intervention.

2005 coquelicot

We always intended for Coquelicot to be a great wine, but now as it rests in bottle, even our expectations have been eclipsed.  We couldn’t be more pleased with our inaugural release. It is a wine that speaks with a French accent as it calls to mind certain vintages of Northern Rhone appellations but with its balanced power and bittersweet chocolate-laced weight, Coquelicot is proudly a premium example of Central Coast syrah.

Coquelicot [KOH-klee-koh] is the French word for the wild poppy flower and also refers to the color of the wild poppy: nearly red or orange mixed with scarlet.  The significance of the wild poppy varies from Greco-Roman pagan roots depicting the poppy as an offering to the dead for eternal peaceful sleep to the more contemporary image of Dorothy crossing magical fields of poppies on her way to Oz.  In addition to the myriad recorded symbolisms for poppies, we most regard them as tokens of renaissance and new beginnings.

tasting note
“A deep purple hue stains the glass as rich aromas of crushed blackberries, cassis, and white pepper waft up into the room; primary black and blue berries burst on the attack followed by a lush mid-palate and bittersweet chocolate finish… this is a new world syrah with quite the old world sensibility; nice structure, minerality, and underlying acidity is present to suggest great drinking over the next 5 to 7 years...” (epc 9/07)

ageing
Although immensly enjoyable now, this wine will get better with proper cellaring. Feel free to decant the wine for aeration if you pop the cork before the end of 2009. Also, remember that extremes in temperature are a wine’s worst enemy… make sure not to store bottles in an unfriendly environment.

pairing
Coquelicot is quite versatile as far as bold wines go because of its underlying acidity. Ideal pairings might include steak and game off the grill, pork chops, or even pizza. Cheese and charcuterie are always fun, too.

...bottom line though, make sure to enjoy it with good friends.