I was pondering this question while I was sipping on a 2007 Jaffurs - Mourvedre this evening. Briefly, it was good, but not what I’m hoping for from a Mourvedre – real TN to follow. I’ve had a similar impression while drinking the last couple domestic Mourveds. that I’ve popped. It got me thinking it might be time for some new recs…
So, have it: who makes your favorite U.S.A.-made Mourvedre (or Mourvedre-dominated (let’s call that 80%+)) bottling? I’ll think about it some more, and report back with my own opinion.
Good idea for a thread. I remember you commented on my note on the Jaffurs, I’m interested to see what you thought.
I really enjoyed the 2006 Tercero Mourvedre. It had more stuffing than the 2007 Jaffurs, but still was fairly elegant. I also see in my CT notes I dug Villa Creek’s 50-50 blend of Mourvedre and Grenache La Boda. I believe they make a varietal Mourvedre, and if they make it mostly whole cluster and age in 500L puncheons like with La Boda, I’d bet that would be excellent. There’s one other, Jade Mountain, IIRC, I had a few sips of. Tasted kind of raisiny. Contra Costa fruit, maybe?
I think I’m in love with the idea of CA Mourvedre because it doesn’t seem as high in sugar, but in practice maybe it’s not so straight forward.
Over he 4th of July we drank a bunch of Villa Creek wines with friends. The 2007 Damas Noir (100% Mourvedre) and Vulture’s Post (I believe 80% Mourvedre?) were both fantastic.
Steve Edmunds used to make one that was pretty good but I think he stopped it.
Cline may be the most consistent but some years are a lot better than others.
Ridge does one but it never really rocked me. Nice enough but missing something.
I think one of my faves, to answer the question, might be from McCrea up in Washington. But it seems like it should do well in CA and maybe much better than some of the grapes that are so popular like PN and syrah and even cab. Probably the reason we don’t see more of it is that there’s no demand so they never looked for good regions and consequently we don’t get great ones, which gets us back to square one.
My sister-in-law lives in Paris and said that I could use her vote, so I say Domaine Tempier.
But in terms of a US Mourvedre, I’ve not had one. I do find the idea intriguing (as I do the idea of domestic Nebbiolo), and at one time actually looked for examples of it but didn’t have much luck. I did a CellarTracker search on “USA Mourvedre” and found a few familiar producers, but couldn’t find anyplace selling them. For example, CT shows multiple vintages of a Joseph Swan Mourvedre, so I thought, “perfect!”, but I couldn’t find it anywhere, not even on the Swan website. There were a couple of others I tried to find as well, but can’t remember who they were. I’ll try the Jaffurs if I run across it, however.
Seems that the majority of CA Mourved is coming from around the Paso Robles area.
I’d agree with the post above mentioning Villa Creek as a producer who’s doing some good work with the grape.
Also really liked the Garretson “Graosta” bottling. But he’s stopped making wine and the few bottles that are still around are probably close to the end of their useful lives.
Edward Cellars (also Paso) makes a number of good blends using the grape. I was lucky enough to pick-up a couple bottles of a straight (I think 100%) Mourved that they made a very small batch of. Haven’t cracked one yet, but perhaps I will do so and report back with a TN.
At this point, there is very little Mourvedre planted in Santa Barbara County that I’m aware of. I get mine from Camp 4, a warmer climate vineyard that is perfect for a very late ripening variety such as Mourvedre. Dave’s comes from Alta Mesa if I’m not mistaken, just over the border in SLO Cty up in the foothills. His Mr. Mourved, which is usually 70-80% Mourvedre, is my favorite of his wines.
I believe Jaffurs gets theirs from Thompson, where only a small amount is planted.
There is a lot more planted up in Paso as far as I can tell, so you are bound to see more choices there than down in SBC . . .
Two Acres has to be my favorite. Although I think I have enjoyed most Cali Mourvedre. Tercero and Core come to mind. I don’t recall trying the Jaffurs but it is hard to imagine that it is not great.
As an aside, this is an interesting California grape. Found in the mixed black section of many old vine field blends, Mourvedre has been around since the early days of California winemaking. It does exceptionally well here. Why there isn’t more is a mystery to me.
I’ll jump on the dogpile and endorse Tercero and Tablas Creek.
I’m always interested to try these relatively uncommon varietals planted in California, whether Mourvedre, Sangiovese, Barbera, Tannat, Tempranillo, Grenache Blanc, etc. I don’t necessarily expect that it be better than a pinot or cabernet or syrah at a similar price point, but I’m all about the sense of discovery and diversity in exploring around California wine.
I also enjoyed many of the others listed in this thread but the Core has stood out for me.
This along with Grenache are grapes I wish were planted a lot more in areas like Paso instead of all that Syrah and other grapes that belong in cooler areas.
I’ve enjoyed Cline’s very much in the past but haven’t had one in quite some time. Been drinking a lot of Monastrell this summer–great values in Spanish Mourvedre–and have been especially pleased with Juan Gil de cepas viejas 2008, a nice everyday drinker.
This is precisely why I’m in love with the idea of Mourvedre. But the reality isn’t there yet. With the Jaffurs 2007 Mourvedre there was actually fairly low alcohol (13.5%) but the grapeswere harvested very late and the fruit actually wasn’t all that fresh. I’m imagining they were waiting for sugars to accumulate as much as anything else by waiting so long. Put Mourvedre in a hotter area than Los Alamos and perhaps it will reach its balance nicely.
Unfortunately, it has a weird French name (moo-vahd or more-ved-ruh depending on degree of anglisization), so it is less suitable for producing than something with a name like Syrah.
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