How did this slip under my radar?!
The Tour de Mourvèdre is going on in El Dorado County this weekend, July 1-4. Ten Mourvèdre producers are offering up special tastings and pricing.
If only I lived anywhere close. Anyone who goes, please report back. I always love discovering new Mourvèdre wines for my #MourvedreMonday series.
More, more Mourvèdre!
I haven’t been doing a great job of keeping up with #MourvèdreMonday posts and tweets lately. But mon amie du vin, Lisa Dinsmore (@DailyWine) is a Mourvèdre-lover extraordinare and often picks up the slack via Twitter. Since I don’t have a new Mourvèdre post for you (yet again) today, check out her awesome recent post at Daily Wine Dispatch on a blind tasting of 2007 Paso Robles Mourvèdre from 11 different producers. Wish I could have been there!
Her overall winner was the Anglim ‘Hastings Ranch’, which I reviewed very favorably in this post last year. I also posted about one other wine in her lineup: the Calcareous Estate Reserve.
Drink More Mourvèdre!
Way back in October, Wines of Chile held a twitter tasting of red blends from Chile (hashtag: #ChileBlends). I had signed up for the tasting and received the wine, but a family emergency kept me from being able to participate on the night of the event. That also coincided with this blog going into a coma for several months. But I tasted the wines and made my notes and am finally posting my comments.
Chile made it’s mark on the US wine scene via inexpensive varietal wines, mainly cabernet, merlot and chardonnay back in the mid-1990s. While I knew things had moved on from that, I figured most of these blends would stay in the Bordeaux mold, with various combinations of cab, merlot, carmenere, and a bit of cab franc and petite verdot here and there. So I was pleasantly surprised by the range of grapes and some unusual combinations. Syrah is a trendy grape in Chile these days and a few of these add that Rhone grape to the Bordeaux blends. A couple include mourvèdre, my favorite grape. One makes use of old-vines, dry-farmed carignan, a hidden treasure of Chile’s. One even mixes syrah, merlot and pinot noir (though this was my least favorite of the lineup).
Below are my notes and free associations. They are in order from my favorite (bonus: it’s also the least expensive) to my least favorite. (Interestingly, my least favorite bottles all had a preponderance of Syrah.)
70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Carmenere
A beautiful dark fruit nose, with just-right green/herbal notes. The palate has an iron minerality at the core, draped with black cherry and blackberry flavors, ripe tannins and a touch of creamy caramel. It finishes clean and minty. This wine has a take-another-sip quality that’s singing to me. It’s just plain delicious and a great value at $15. A-
Free association:
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31% Syrah,29% Cabernet Franc, 23% Cabernet Sauvignon, 17% Carmenere
At first taste, I thought “This is the one I’m not gonna like.” But it started to appeal to me with time; kinda like Cougartown. The nose is like walking around the Christmas tree tent picking out your overpriced Douglas fir — including the whiffs of cigarette smoke from the carnie working there. A little mint too. Dry and tannic in the mouth with a tight core of sultry black fruit (it is a 2008) and tobacco. A wine worth spending an evening with. B+
Free association:
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56% Carignan, 24% Mourvèdre, 20% Syrah
There is a wildness to the smoky cherry nose with it’s green/vegetal notes and leather. On the palate it is medium-bodied and smooth-textured, with chocolate and black cherry flavors. Finishes cool. Nice wine. B
Free association:
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57% Carmenere, 23% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Cabernet Franc, 8% Petit Verdot
Pretty herbal and sandalwood notes highlight the fresh red fruit on the nose. The palate’s plummy/blueberry flavors feel controlled and precise, not overblown. A dry, woody, tannic finish. B
Free association:
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38% Syrah, 21% Cabernet Sauvignon, 21% Carmenere, 17% Merlot, 2% Petit Verdot, 1% Mourvèdre
Dynamite nose of berries and a touch of cocoa/chocolate on a frame of crushed rock. On the palate, the dark berry fruit is a bit reserved behind the prominent woodiness. It’s nicely smooth-textured at the beginning then turns a bit coarse, with barky/woody tannins and a minty finish. The palate doesn’t pay off the promise of the nose, but a pleasant bottle. B-
Free association:
Image credit: seaan via Flickr
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42% Syrah, 30% Carmenere, 12% Cabernet Franc, 9% Petit Verdot, 7% Malbec
Interesting nose of modest red fruit with fresh green pepper (more the white inner stuff than the green outside) and a metal and slightly saline quality. On the palate, the initial blueberry fruit is polished, but the wine tightens up and gets quite woody and grippy. It finishes with some black pepper spice (though a touch hot). The wine improves after a few hours open, but overall it’s not a favorite. B-/C+
Free association:
Image via Accidental Mysteries
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61% Syrah, 26% Merlot, 13% Pinot Noir
As the last wine in the lineup, and the most expensive, I had high hopes. (I should know better about price/quality expectations, but it’s a hard bias to shake.) The wine is dense & figgy, but I found the fruit to come across as “overcooked” and it finishes hot (despite only 14.4% on the label). It feels like there is some interesting complexity hiding in there, but it’s been stamped out. C+
Free association:
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Additional Notes:
I misplaced my notes on the De Martino Single Vineyard Old Bush Vines “Las Cruces” 2006 Cachapoal Valley ($45), 66% Malbec, 34% Carmenere, which was also a part of this tasting. My apologies to the good folks at Wines of Chile. I suck.
Other blogger posts on this tasting at drinknectar , cheapwineratings and 1winedude.
I was happy to stumble upon this today. John Kafarski over at the Wine Culture Project is launching a new project he’s calling The Mourvedre Minutes.
[I]n The Mouvedre Minutes, across the world we shall travel paying homage to a relatively unknown grape as we survey its anonymous greatness.
Can’t wait to follow this project and see what gems he turns up. (And I hope to resume my own Mourvèdre Monday series, and blogging in general, soon.)
Back to Spain for Mourvèdre Monday. This one’s from Bodegas Castaño, one of the biggest producers of Monastrell in Yecla, in southeastern Spain. This wine got 90+ points from Parker for 5 straight vintages, including this one. Let’s see what’s up.
Producer: Bodegas Castaño
Grapes: 100% Monastrell
Appellation: Yecla
Vineyards: From 30+ year old vines in two vineyards: Las Gruesas and Pozuelo. Both with soils of sand, clay and limestone.
Vintage: 2005
Winemaking: 6 months of aging. It’s not clear from tech sheet in what vessel, but I would guess tank or neutral oak.
Alcohol: 14.5%
Price: Around $12
Tasting notes: Dusty fruit on the nose playing second fiddle to dried flowers and a sweaty, meaty aroma. I catch a fleeting licorice note as well. On the palate there are rich blackberry and red fruit flavors with an interesting mossy background note. Finishes short and dry with a little heat.
Overall impression: Some intriguing elements that don’t quite come together into a harmonious whole as well as I would like. Still an nice bottle that I enjoyed spending the evening with. And a nice value at around $12. B
Free association:
More info:
90 points from Parker and Tanzer. Parker gave this wine 90 or 91 points in vintages 2002-2006.
Jeff over at Viva La Wino reviewed this one last year and loved it.
Mourvèdre Monday finally makes it to Texas. Becker is a big name in the Texas wine scene. I’ve tried quite a few of their wines over the years with mixed results. I had high hopes for their “Prairie Rotie” — a Southern Rhône blend of Mourvèdre, Grenache, Syrah and Carignan (though the name is a play on Côte Rôtie, which is a Northern Rhône appellation where the wines are either all Syrah or Syrah + Viognier). Let’s check it out.
Producer: Becker Vineyards,whose winery and tasting room are in the Texas Hill Country near Fredericksburg
Grapes: 68% Mourvèdre, 14% Grenache, 12% Syrah, 6% Carignan
Appellation: Texas High Plains AVA – way up in the panhandle
Vineyard: Martin Vineyard
Vintage: 2007
Winemaking: This wine spent 9 months in new American oak barrels.
Alcohol: 13.8%
Price: $16.95 on Becker’s website, but I believe I paid about a few dollars less at HEB (supermarket).
Tasting notes: This wine smells purple, grapey. Or like some imaginary Kool-aid flavor called Sparkleberry. Some sweet oak coming through pretty strong as well. Extracted, overripe berry fruit on the palate, coming across a little raw. The winery’s description promisingly mentions forest floor and herbs and coffee, but I didn’t pick up any of that in the wine. I grew bored of this very quickly.
Overall impression: A Texas winery taking pains to make and market this as a Rhône-style wine set my expectations to a way different place. I hope Becker (and others) continue working with these grapes here in Texas, but this particular wine didn’t do much for me. C
Free association:
I’ve been meaning to devote more attention to Bandol in the Mourvèdre Monday series. Bandol, after all, is the only appellation in France where Mourvèdre is the top dog grape (it must be a minimum of 50% of the blend).
So I was very excited when I was recently followed on Twitter by @BandolWines and subsequently discovered that they’re a Bandol importer based in nearby Houston. Soon after we connected via Twitter, I got the chance to meet Amine Matta, who was pouring three wines from Domain La Suffrene at the Austin Wine Merchant: a fresh, crisp appley white (from Clairette and Ugni Blanc), a nice minerally rosé and the red reviewed below. (Tasting notes based on a full bottle I purchased and drank later.) I’m looking forward to tasting through the as much of their portfolio as I can eventually!
Grapes: 55% Mourvèdre, 20% Grenache, 15% Cinsault, 10% old-vine Carignan
Appellation: Bandol (AOC, France)
Vineyards: “sandy-silt-laden, calcareous and clay” soils
Vintage: 2005
Winemaking: 18 months in oak (% new unknown)
Alcohol: I failed to note it.
Price: I paid around $30 at Austin Wine Merchant
Tasting notes: On the nose, there is a spicy, black pepper layer on top of the red fruit (berries and maybe some plum). A definite whiff of horse stable on the nose, but a nice clean horse stable, like the ones with the clydesdales at Busch Gardens and SeaWorld. On the palate, it has good dark fruit, but it’s strength for me is in its leathery, savory, earthy qualities. A wine for contemplation, not quaffing.
Overall impression: A real winner for me. B+
Free association: I picture Dumbledore drinking this in his office after a long day battling office politics at Hogwarts.
I always look forward to opening another bottle of wine from Cline Cellars. Cashmere is their GSM blend (Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre) and in their latest release – the 2008 – they’ve upped the share of Mourvèdre in the blend. Your favorite blogger’s favorite grape is now the lead dog at 44%. (Let’s all pretend they did that in response to the shear market-moving force of VINEgeek.com.)
Producer: Cline Cellars
Grapes: 44% Mourvèdre, 35% Grenache, 21% Syrah
Appellation: California (AVA)
Vineyards: From the winery’s tech sheet…
“Contra Costa County provides the lion’s share of the grapes for this blend. Careful attention to the Massoni Grenache vineyard in Oakley involves cluster thinning and leaf pulling, which increases fruit concentration. Big Break Grenache is harvested from older lower yielding dry-farmed vines. The Oakley Syrah experiences warm days and cool nights. And the Mourvedre, planted in sand soil, is dry-farmed.”
Vintage: 2008
Winemaking: 9 months in dark toast French oak (25% new)
Alcohol: 15.0%
Price: Around $15
Tasting notes: I get raspberry cream and a bit of black pepper on the nose. The palate is blackberry pie filling, but with the polished mouthfeel I’ve come to expect from Cashmere (though not as luxuriously silky as the 2007). A brief bit of grip at the end that quickly morphs into a sweet, oaky finish. I don’t get the minty note I usually get in wines with fruit from Cline’s Big Break vineyard, which has eucalyptus trees adjacent to the vineyard.
Overall impression: Because of the increased presence of Mourvèdre in the blend, I wanted to like this even more than past vintages, but I have to say I liked the 2007 a bit more. But, the 2008 is another crowd-pleasing Cashmere from Cline. (Old-Worlders may want to pass) B
Free association:
Image credit: 1sock via Flickr
More info:
Grape Stories/CellarTracker reviews (avg: 87 pts)
Cline donates a portion of the proceeds from every bottle of Cashmere sold to the Breast Cancer Network of Strength.
Opening one of Randall Grahm’s wines is always an event for me. I had the 2003 version of this wine in my cellar for 4 or 5 years before I gave in to temptation and pulled the cork; I was not disappointed. Though this is a 2004, I didn’t have to cellar it for half a decade. It was a special release from “Randall’s Closet of Curiosity” made available to DEWN members earlier this year.
Producer: Bonny Doon Vineyards
Grapes: 100% Mourvèdre
Appellation: Says Central Coast on the bottle, but the info in the winery newsletter suggests it’s from Contra Costa County (perhaps not within that official AVA?). CCC has some of the oldest Mourvèdre vines in California.
Vineyards: Rose Vineyard – very old vines in sandy CCC soil
Vintage: 2004
Winemaking: couldn’t find any details here other than that they use “a light touch in the cellar”
Alcohol: 13.5%
Price: $18
Tasting notes: After some initial funk blows off, the nose is all crushed rock and raspberries with a smoked meat note. On the palate it has good acid and bright flavors with more red berry and cherry fruit, but with a dark streak (hinting toward blackberry and plum). It’s like a gourmet Jolly Rancher, if there were such a thing (and there should be — get on that, Thomas Keller).
Overall impression: I’m digging the minerality on the nose and the overall purity of the wine. Really good stuff. B+
Free Association: Isn’t that a badass label? I want that on a t-shirt. It reminds me of this Lizard Man drawing from the old D&D Monster Manual.
More info:
CellarTracker reviews (avg: 87 pts)
In the last Mourvèdre Monday post, I reviewed the Lorca 2006 Monastrell from Bodegas del Rosario. I wasn’t planning on doing this Lorca 2008 back-to-back with the last, but our dinner of chorizo, shrimp, olives and rice made me want to go to Spain with my wine choice, and this is the last Spanish Monastrell I had on hand. As you may recall, the 2006 did not leave me with high hopes for this one, but I pulled the cork and hoped for the best.
Producer: Bodegas del Rosario
Grapes: 100% Monastrell (same grape as Mourvèdre, for newcomers). The 2006 had 30% Syrah.
Appellation: Bullas (D.O. Spain)
Vineyards: From youngish (10-20 years), dry-farmed vines at altitudes ranging from 550 to 1060 meters. The soil is clay, sand and limestone.
Winemaking: Stainless steel fermentation and 8 months in 2-year-old French and American oak
Alcohol: 13.5%
Price: $9 or $10 at Costco
My tasting notes: Sticking my nose in the glass, I get the sense of walking the aisles at a hardware store. I start in Aisle 1 with the paint thinner and other solvents. Aisle 2 is the loose nails and bolts. Aisle 3 for some lumber. Oh look, they’ve got cherry Tic Tacs at the checkout. On the palate it’s light with the same sort of dusty red fruit as the 2006 bottling, still without much pop. It disappears very quickly at the end. A very flat experience.
Overall impression: Once again, the Lorca is not fun to drink. Please don’t make this your first Monastrell if you’ve never had one. Try this one or this one or this one instead. C-
Free association:
Photo credit: D’Arcy Norman via Flickr