The Spur Featured in the Tasting Panel Yearbook

Murrieta’s well 2008 “the Spur,” Livermore Valley ($25)

With 20 years of teamwork under their belts, fourth-generation winegrower Philip Wente and renowned winemaker Sergio Traverso have been making beautiful wines together in the Livermore Valley long enough to make their partnership look like second nature. With this year’s release of proprietary blends The Whip and The Spur, the duo prove that blending talent, like blending grapes, is a finely-tuned art. The Spur 2008 is a symphony of perfectly-balanced varietal collaboration, with 54% Cabernet Sauvignon, 23% Petit Verdot, 10% Petite Sirah, 9% Cabernet Franc and 4% Malbec coming together as nicely as Wente and Traverso have in this effort.

 

Smooth, juicy and lush with lovely ripe blackberry fruit and spice; notes of chocolate and oak; long and balanced.