2010 Alienor Cote de Castelero Lake County

Rare Lake County Gem Reveals Shadows of First Growth Quality

Today’s 2010 Alienor Cote de Castelero is one of the most profound library releases we’ve ever laid our hands on. The last 100 cases in the world have sat, quietly resting, for almost a decade, and these mint-condition bottles of Syrah are showing the intense cedar and tobacco more akin to finely aged Bordeaux.

Our entire team was convinced the wine was a French red, not a single-vineyard Lake County Syrah from California. But considering the winemakers—the late, great, Denis Malbec, former cellarmaster at Château Latour, and his wife May-Britt—we should not have been surprised.

While Left-Bank-bred, the formidable duo found a home in Napa Valley where Malbec had also produced wines for Kapcsandy, Blankiet, Charles Krug, and Anderson Conn Valley. Thanks to May-Britt, Wine Access members are getting exclusive access to their rare personal project—Alienor.

This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to secure a perfectly-aged red just hitting its stride with turned earth, black truffle, pepper, and tobacco spices atop dazzling crushed rock minerality—so fresh and alive. 

In absolute awe of this 2010 Alienor, and convinced it was a Northern Rhône cru, we asked May-Britt why she and Denis looked to Lake County, which lies north of Napa and south of Mendocino. “Denis and I decided to make the Lake County Syrah because we found the right ‘cru,’” she told us. “The right terroir—it was so full of rocks, it turned out to be an old riverbed. It looked very much like the Northern Rhône, with the exception that we also have chunks of black obsidian rocks that came down from Mount Konocti’s various eruptions millions of years ago.”

“On top of that,” continued Malbec, “the Castelero vineyard is certified organic, which was very appealing to us.” The 2010 was aged in 70 percent new French oak and, well, May-Britt says it best: “It is very French in style, more so than any California Syrah. I am pretty sure you could fool Somms with this wine.”

It has. It fooled us. But that’s the majesty and mystery of brilliant winemaking. To create a wine so quintessentially Old World from New World fruit takes not only exceptional talent but guts and hutzpah because it’s intentionally a long game—by design, the wine must age and is supposed to show its stuff a decade after being bottled. If you want to know how exciting it is to drink a special wine right in its prime drinking window, this is your chance.   

The University of Bordeaux-trained May-Britt, who also dabbled in blending while at Château Latour, talks about how their wines “take so long to come around.” With Alienor, in its youth, black and blue fruit shined, balanced by toasty oak, cedar, and spice box. Today, thanks to Denis and May-Britt’s masterful winemaking, those dark fruits are still there, marked by deep earth notes, truffle, and more deep earth mingling with dark chocolate and cigar box.   

The Castelero Vineyard, perched at 1,360 feet, was planted in 2000 with suitcase clones from France. Vines here in the northern reaches of the Mayacams Range enjoy a mix of gravel, sand, and silt, plenty of sunshine and a long growing season. In 2010, a cool start eventually gave way to a warm, normal growing season, and the late start is credited with helping some varieties—like Syrah—achieve an Old World level of firm acid and fine tannins.

This is another special release courtesy of May-Britt Malbec and one not to be missed by lovers of perfectly aged, perfectly cellared world-class California wine.

• Fruit Intensity
• Oak Intensity
• Body
• Acidity
• Tannin

• ABV 13.80%
• 30 mins
• Drink Up
• % Syrah
• Serving temperature – 60°
• Cork