Locations Wine: Exploring California and France

Have an urge to explore the world – but not the cash? Locations wine company has bottled the best of the world’s finest wine regions. The world can be yours for a song.

What California Wine Regions Made The Cut?

Locations has a pretty lofty goal for their globe-spanning line of wines. They aim to create a blend across all of the major appellations to produce a wine that represents the country or state of origin.

When you are trying to master this, challenges abound. In the Old World, imagine the challenges in France or Italy. Right here at home, how do you create a bottle that represents all the fantastic winemaking across the wine mecca of California?

We aimed to find out as we popped open a bottle of “CA.” Each bottle in the series is distinctively badged with the “bumper sticker” declaring its location.

Which regions made their way into the bottle? How about Napa, Sonoma, Mendocino and the Sierra Foothills? That’s a pretty good cross-section. We visited Amador Country last summer and in doing so gained a new appreciation for vino from the Sierra Foothills.

If you were expecting gobs of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, you would have guessed wrong. CA blends Petite Sirah, Barbera, Tempranillo, Syrah and Grenache grapes and includes 10 months of aging in French oak. It will please any California wine lover, with big flavors of berry, herbs and a dash of smoke. The tannins are evident, but don’t distract from enjoying this wine now.

The F Word Is Good!

In wine, or at least in Dave Phinney’s Locations series, the F word is France. In this instance, it is France. You might say they dropped the F bomb, because the lineup includes two F wines: a red and a rosé. We recently popped open the rosé.

Rosé is not just a hot weather wine. It is a perfect food wine and often comes to the rescue when you have a dish for which wine pairing is tricky. We served it as an arrival wine at a recent party.

This rosé comes from the south of France, perhaps Languedoc, although it isn’t stated. If all the grapes came from Provence, I’m sure that would have been trumpeted loudly.

It is 100% Grenache and is fermented in stainless steel tanks to maintain its fresh flavors. It offers a light-medium body and concentrated flavors of peaches and honeysuckle.

Serving rosé works with almost any light entrée or social occasion. It also shows you have enough savvy to know that rosé is trending in the wine world – and for good reason. The quality of rosé worldwide has never been better.

We enjoyed both these Locations. Each bottle is priced below $20, so these stops on your world tour won’t break the bank.

Full disclosure: We received this wine as marketing samples.