2018 Halcon Vineyards Roussanne Halcon Vineyard- USA, California, North Coast, Yorkville Highlands (9/29/2019)
Special delivery today as Paul and Jackie dropped by the house today with my release. Doing a half Pobega on this Roussanne as I put it on ice before dinner. Pop and pour, about an hour in now and this is singing. A touch cloudy in the glass. Citrus, crushed stones, white peach up front, tart fruit and verve on the palate pushing through the creamy texture with no signs of oak. Steely minerality and an exceptionally long finish. Man this is good. Lip smacking acidity lingers. World class!
Curious about the acidity on this wine. The variety is known to provide wines with great texture and even a touch of tannin but not normally high acidity.
Also, what temperature was it served at? To show off.its texture, I serve closer to room temperature. And did you save any for day 2, or 3?
Since these wines tend to be more ‘textural’ than acid driven, I find that they sing from about 55-65 degrees or so, and aromaticly even more so at 70 or so.
Where I live, it’s currently 48F and expected high is 67F, I think slightly cooler at Brian’s place. Depends on the wine, but I like Roussanne around 65, or so.
This is a rather unique Roussanne - it was pick last October 29th just over 19b (finished alc is 11.5%). The TA was 8.5! What has really surprised me is the richness combined with the acid spine, rather like Beaucastel Blanc meets Chablis.
It started off chilled but I followed it for about 3 hrs and it was room temp 68° when I had my last glass. The acidity really showed best as the temp rose.
Impossible to save any for 2-3 days later. It was that good.
Yes the we pulled the trigger on pick after the third rain. It was going to rot if we did not pick. Plus November at 2500ft in Mendo does not have much ripening potential.
The nose on the wine has the classic Roussanne nutty, waxy profile. I am surprised given the numbers. It must have been the long hang-time giving full phenolic ripeness.
Larry - if it’s the wine Paul poured for me a couple weeks ago, it’s truly a most excellent wine. And it got even better as it warmed and opened slightly. It has plenty of acidity to support the richness. As Brian says, world class.
Thanks for the additional information, Paul. Really interesting - and as you said, perhaps it’s due to longer hang time. I’ve usually found that when you pick roussanne (or marsanne) earlier, you can retain better acidity, but you give up the richness that is the hallmark of these varieties. It’s great to hear that this was not the case with this wine - and I hope to get my hands on a couple of bottles to lay down and follow over time . . .
