What We're Drinking Now- E1 Locations
While on our road trip through the South of France, Bordeaux and Spain, we encountered oval stickers on the backs of Fiats, VW buses, Minis and other vehicles in each place we visited. Our curiosity piqued and we learned that they're not just trendy, their main function is to identify the origin of vehicles from different countries within the EU. The label on the bottle above is an example of the sticker on cars from Spain, or 'Espana'.
Enter the creative genius of Dave Phinney, the man behind the Orin Swift label who blew the wine world's socks off with his edgy red blend, The Prisoner. Team Orin Swift recently expanded into the South of France with their D66 label, and are now delving even deeper into European varietals with their brand new 'Locations' brand. For these country-specific wines, the label will signify the location from which the wine is sourced. In addition to the 'E' for Spain, they also have an 'F' label for France, and presumably, an 'I' for Italy isn't far behind.
We had the good fortune of tasting the E1 Locations blend(1=1st vintage), and I must say, for $17/bottle, this is one of the best values I've encountered in a long while! Having had quite a few Spanish wines during our travels, this is not your typical mellow, low alcohol old world style wine. True to Phinney's style, he pulls every drop of color, fruit and alcohol out of the Grenache, Tempranillo and Carignane, and delivers a deep purple-crimson wine with aromas of blackberry and blueberry pie. This is a sultry wine that wraps its fruity legs around your mouth as soon as you pop the cork, and like the best 'sultry' encounters, this is a wine you won't mind having again the next night as it drinks even more beautifully after a day or two of being open .
We see a black and white sticker, Team Orin Swift sees a bajillion-dollar idea and rocks it!
My recommendation: Pick some up right away because once it is discovered at your local wine shop, I can't imagine it will last very long!
