Interesting opportunity was presented to us during our barrel tasting in the wine cave, tasting 2015 and 2016 Del Dottolo Reserve Cab, fermented and settled in one tank, but aged in different barrels. All incredible wines, barrels were Allain Fouquet barrels, one Margaux, one American , one St. Emilion, each vintage, all were M+ toast. The difference was discernible and dramatic when sampled side by side for both vintages, and though they were incredible, the MGX barrels produced the best wines, longer finish, and more complex, as determined by us, though they were all insanely wonderful, YMMV.
Del Dottolo wines have a very distinctive taste, which we inquired about. Our tasting guide described the path they’d been down over the years with yeast selection, natural, DV10, D254, and some others I’d never heard of. Their winemaker had settled on D254, to which he attributed their distinctive taste, and is still used today. Found that pretty intriguing.........