I’m a first time Dirty & Rowdy buyer and received my first shipment last month of the 4 spring release 2019 wines. Been waiting to crack my first one open.
Having dinner tonight with friends who would enjoy and get a kick out of D&R. No idea about the food and no way to find out.
Questions for experienced D&R drinkers-
Is it foolish to get into these this soon?
Which of the 3 below do you think has the best chance of showing well this early?
Opening/decanting instructions? What’s necessary w young D&R reds?
No harm no foul. You need to get an idea of the style by drinking a few. The Enz would be what I’d open first. Hardy makes lots of Mourvèdre so try it and get a sense of what he is about.
I have never had one that wasn’t delicious right away. However, some of them have a lot of trapped CO2 and benefit from shaking it out or a big slosh decant. If the first sip seems at all shrill, do that.
I am the wrong person at ask about aging wines.
But every D&R wine that I have had was fantastic on release.
I think the style is conducive to early drinking.
Know that from Napa there will be big variability. As we had historic rain some wines are diluted, wines from naturally drained sites have amazing concentration as the growing season was so long and had few heat spikes after veraison.
As the wines were recently bottled, sometimes they’re fabulous popped and poured, sometimes they benefit from the canteen. They are like a new relationship, you never know which way it’s going to go.
I popped a Barbera. HUGE mistake. I don’t think the wine was “bad,” but it was NOT in a good place. No amount of decant was going to coax it out. I Coravined the bottle. A week later, still half left. I don’t think it’s going to improve. I hope my second bottle is better. Going to let it sit.
Went w/ the Enz Mourvèdre. Pulled the cork 2 hrs prior to leaving. Put the cork in & re-pulled an hour later at dinner.
Beautiful, lighter aromatics- strawberry, watermelon & flowers.
Light red color, semi-opaque. Almost OR Pinot-like in appearance.
Light on the palate. Lots of sweet strawberry, underbrush. Mid palate was spicy& peppery giving way to very smooth but almost chalky tannins.
This is a lighter wine. Paired well with appetizers, Caesar salad, and a mushroom risotto side dish.
Couldn’t stand up to short ribs, but I didn’t expect it to by then.
Was a very nice and easy to drink, was a crowd pleasing wine enjoyed by all. Does not have any hard edges. Would expect it to gain some complexity over time.
As a newcomer to our wines, I do recommend opening these wines early just to get the feel- A 60-90 min decant usually does the trick.
The Barbera is the lightest and highest acid in your order, the MSG is the mid-weight, and the Enz is the darkest. All of the 19 wines are light and bright.
Paul-
Sorry to hear about your experience with the Barbera. That sounds “off” - It is a light bodied wine (gamay-esque) but should be ripping, juicy, and full of bright red fruit. Happy to make a replacement for you.
For all, Kate and I are always available for opening, serving, drink / hold, suggestions. Please do not hesitate to reach out.
I’ve opened the Barbera and the MSG and enjoyed both. In reality D&R wines usually don’t last long in our house and I don’t regret consuming any of them young.
I’ve opened the Barbera and the MSG I really enjoyed them both
Emily thought they needed more air than we gave them initially.
The Barbera was delicious and disappeared in about 60 minutes so we didn’t give it time to evolve. The MSG was decanted for about 30min and I thought it was outstanding.
These will likely not last long here.
Opened the MSG, my two daughter’s and son in law where over for happy hour in our back yard.
Did not take notes or pay too much attention but it was great and everybody loved it.
I thought it was a great opportunity to share the D&R experience.
Still have the Barbera. Saving it for the right moment.
Nick, The Familiar wines are our earlier drinking wines (think regional / village wine vs. vineyard designate). I think the '19 Familiar is rocking now with a 45min decant. It will be fresh and have a range of flavors from blood orange to dark & meaty. Though the Familiar (and Especial) wines are intended for earlier drinking, they do hold and evolve but on the Familiar I’m not sure if the upside is worth cellar space.
