2013 Tercero Roussanne- USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Ynez Valley (12/17/2019)
Love Larry’s unscrew-n-go wines! They’re subtle, not in your face, yet full of passion and expression. The 13 Roussanne is aging into a real beauty! Creamy with almost an oily viscosity…a waxy softness of tropical and pitted fruits…yet lifted freshness of citrus acidity dances with the palate…even becoming a little spicy in the finish. Everything is subtle and in total balance…complexities of bit-o-honey, toasted marshmallow, candied pineapple…savory crushed minerals and lanolin. But what makes this wine, along with the pleasing texture, is the florals! White flowers, honeysuckle, peach blossom…even a little petrol funk to make it interesting! One of the top domestic Roussanne’s made imo. (94 pts.)
I recently had the 2014 and the predominant aroma (even from a distance) hit me as something so familiar it was uncanny. It finally struck me that it was completely and totally reminiscent of a batch of honey mead I made and aged in an oak barrel. Maybe it had something to do with smelling the mead every week for months that caused particular note to stand out above everything else, I don’t know. The taste opened a different array of great flavors but the aroma was so unexpected and awesome.
Thank you both for the kind words. The 2013 was only my 2nd and the 2014 my 3rd Roussanne produced. This is a variety that I really didn’t enjoy for quite some time - when i helped craft them for another winery, the winemaker always chose to pick the grapes so ripe that the subsequent wine was always ‘oily’ and so high in alcohol that you had to serve it quite chilled - something that, to me, kills the nuance of this variety.
I prefer to serve mine at cellar temperature, letting it warm to room temperature, allowing the aromatics to shine and the texture to be as evident as possible.
Did you save any for day 2? I have found both of these bottlings to benefit from a quite bit of air, often showing best on day 2 or 3 . . .
I have a few of these from various vintages stashed away. I don’t mind drinking it “young” but I knew immediately this could become really special with age, we shall see.
2/3 Zaca Mesa and 1/3 Camp 4 fruit. Larry used to think little of this grape but he says he has definitely come around now and loves working with it. Initially kind of mushroomy-musty, but that blows off quickly to get at flashes of grapefruit and star fruit. This, in the mouth, is somewhat fat right now but reined in, and it will need plenty of time to grow into its own."
Kinda shockingly, this seems to be the only time I’ve tasted the Roussanne—something to fix in a couple months when I next visit
Next time, and I usually prefer to do 1/2 one night and 1/2 the next. I did open the bottle and take a whiff the next day and that one unique note stood out to me over anything.
Weird. I edited my post and must have done something wrong. I’ll try to recreate it…
I mentioned that I found Tercero wines in L.A. and they were really well spoken of at Vendome and another boutique shop. I had bottles of the 2014 and 2015.
The back of the 2015 bottle said Camp 4 and Zaca Mesa Vineyards, and the 2014 said Zaca Mesa Vineyard, though I think I saw on another site that the 2015 was 100% Zaca Mesa fruit(?) There’s a fun issue on the front of the wine label and I didn’t notice it until after taking the photo, and the glass happens to be getting in the way…
I poured each bottle into 16oz swing top bottles and labeled them. So that left me with a little over a glass (?) of each to sample from the bottles, and two 100% fill 16oz bottles of each to sample, maybe later this week.
The 2014 had that same exact familiar note I remember from a mead making experience in my previous post. It’s almost like wax and creates a rounded creamy mouthfeel. It comes through in the aroma, mouthfeel and taste, pretty neat. It was so pronounced, I had unknowingly flip/flopped the two glasses in front of the wrong bottles and confirmed that when I poured more into each glass.
Everything about the 2014 was the same as I remember before. The 2015 was a bit more acidic, definitely brighter and more citrusy. Both were well balanced and unique in their own ways but also similar, the 2014 being one of the more interesting whites I’ve had (again, maybe something from the mead experience is causing that). I’d like to try the 2015 again in a few years for sure, and love how the 2014 is drinking now.
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