Manatees in Carmel Valley?

 Well, not exactly, but there is one on a wine label in Carmel Valley at least.  We just finished a wine tasting at Chateau Sinnet  in the Carmel Valley Village (www.chateausinnet.com).  One of their wines, a Gold Medal Winner at the Florida State International Fair Competition, is called Manatee White Merlot.  A portion of the purchase price goes to a Manatee relief fund in Florida.  Drinking with an environmental consciousness—a good thing.

Chateau Sinnet, about 10 years old, grows all of its grapes near San Antonio Mission off Highway 101, on about 100 acres.  They have two tasting rooms, one in Carmel Valley and one in Seaside, and offer a variety of whites, a rose, many reds, and some unique fruit wines and champagne-like sparkling wines.

Some of the interesting wines for us included:

• 2005 Cabernet Franc which was light and, according to our server, “not quite so serious” a wine—our kind of wine
•  2005 Zinfandel Late Harvest, slightly sweet and “chewy” which we could see as an aperitif with cheese
•   2007 Rose which was a blend of six varieties of Bordeaux  
• Cranberry Renoir L’Orange wine which our server suggested was not only a fun specialty wine but a great basting wine for turkey or chicken and the Manatee White Merlot, mentioned above, which was gentle and “fruitful,” a blush in color, and a perfect picnic wine. 

       Our server offered so many wonderful ideas about what foods would go well with which wines that we came out of our tasting quite hungry.  Plus, we came out with an appreciation of yet another unique Carmel Valley wine establishment. For more information, visit their website or one of their tasting rooms. The one in the valley is at 13746 Center Street (659 2244).