2015 Once & Future Wine Mataro Oakley Road Vineyard- USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Contra Costa County (2/8/2017)
Pours out a pretty bright raspberry color…exotic nose of smoked cherry wood, crushed wild berries, white pepper, dried flowers, tar, earth. WOW…this is an exciting wine! Bright and fresh juicy wild berry fruits…with crunchy youth, as well as liqueured ripeness. Not heavy or extracted at all…more elegant and yes, graceful. Love love love the smokey, brambly, exotics in this! The nose reminded me of when I smelled DRC for the first time…exotic dusty wood spices with perfumed fruit! But you can tell there’s something here other than a Pinot…some tar, underbrush, potpourri and cinnamon spice. Great refreshing cranberry, cherry skin, pomegranate acidity…mineralty and balance. But MAN…the exotics I love!!! (95 pts.)
I am so excited about this wine, as well as all Once & Future releases!! Obviously, I have a soft spot for Contra Costa - not to mention Mataro/Mourvedre - but I consider the most recent endeavors of Mr Joel Peterson to be some world class $#¡+.
Thanks for popping one, and writing the great note Buzz. I’ve been debating opening one of these. Normally I get a first impression on pickup day, but Joel scheduled it same weekend as Falltacular, so it’s a no-go for me.
I wonder how much the redwood fermenters are contributing to the unique character? As well as the sandy soils, own-rooted old vines, unique CCC climate. Should be interesting to taste this against the Sandlands, which is same vineyard but AFAIK no redwood.
Okay, so your note talked me into opening a bottle of this last night, and I’m happy I did. The aromatics hit you in the face from a couple of inches away; dark raspberry and dark cherry. Like your bottle, my color was black cherry in the center quickly going to cranberry at the rim. Less tannin and more acid than I expected but both play nicely with the fruit profile. And the finish lasted almost a full minute. As a friend once told me, “this is juice worthy of the name.”
The silver lining to my Falltacular flights being cancelled due to severe weather is that I get to attend pick-up day tomorrow! May just be my Sunday evening quaff.
As Mr Peterson says, “Open one in the NOW, but save some for the FUTURE if you are able. I know from the wine that I ONCE made that they will be very pretty in 10, even 20 years.”
I guess I made a good decision and picked up nine of these and after reading this post I have to try one. Did anyone who opened this wine think it needs to be decanted or was PnP fine?
I popped one of these today at 2:30 and it had a huge sulphur note on the nose that didn’t blow off until 4hrs later. It was like an amplifier for the eucalyptus that remains. The fruit is wonderful but if you really want to experience what this wine offers it needs 4+ hrs of air. I had to ask my Wife if it was my glass or hers (she was drinking a Bedrock Zin) because the nose changed so drastically. Went through about 1/2 the bottle between 2:30 and 7pm.
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