2012 Dirty and Rowdy Shake Ridge Ranch Mourvèdre

I just saw this in my inbox from last week and was surprised to not see any chatter about this on the board. Hardy, have any tasting notes or what to expect besides what was in the release letter?

Hardy’s wines have really gone from strength to strength. He is my friend so I am a little biased but these wines are very well made. Very tasty too. Shake Ridge is a very interesting property too. I would imagine this is very nice.

I haven’t dug into many of my wines from Hardy and Matt except the Semillon which is exceptional. I bet this Mouvedre is really good. I will look in my box and pop something tomorrow night.

Yeah, I have some of the OV Mourvèdre that I have yet to open. But now that I’m in week four of not drinking, it might be a while until I get to those. But I could always go for another t-shirt. Talk about nice and broken in. I’m 97 on those.

Love the T Shirts. I bought a couple for my kids.

I just bought my allocation of the 2012 Shake Ridge. The 2012 Rosewood Old Vines is rocking so I am sure that one will be wonderful.

These wines remind me a lot of the local European wines that you get when you buy a carafe or bottle of local wine at a dinner. Very aromatic. Lots of wonderful fruit. Great balance and acidity. Each is very different. I assume they are true to the site due to that fact. (I don’t think Hardy makes wholesale changes in vinification.) Every US restaurant should have some of this. Fantastic wine. Great price point. Wonderful with food. (I like to sip them too.)

Love my buddies and so glad they are so successful.

Having visited Shake Ridge Ranch last fall and looked at Hardy’s Mourvèdre block among other things, I can recommend buying any wine made from this vineyard’s fruit. Shake Ridge’s Ann Kraemer is doing a great job of farming that site and I’m sure Hardy is doing justice to her fruit!

Jeb and Don-

Thank you for the kind words. Shake Ridge is a special place and we are happy to work with fruit from there and to have called it home for a few months in '11.

Some quick notes:
For those that are familiar with our Mourvèdre wines / vineyards- Shake Ridge Ranch packs the most “umph”. It is medium to medium+ bodied and shows lovely, heady, floral notes. There is a core of intense fruit and cinnamon / spice on the palate, juicy acidity, grippy tannin, and a significant rocky / mineral finish. Like all of our reds, it is 100% whole cluster.

Right now, I think it is wound tight and could use some slumber time, but a lot of people (masochists) feel like it is enjoyable now. If you were tempted to drink one in the near future, I would drop it in a decanter for a few hours before drinking, or try it the next day.

Of the 7-8 reds that we’ve released, I feel that '12 Shake Ridge Ranch and our '12 Old Vines Petite Sirah will be the longest lived. It may be the semi-evil twin to our '12 Santa Barbara Highlands Vineyard Mourvèdre.

Feel free to drop me an email or a call if you have any questions.

Thanks for posting!

Ken- It is a special place. I enjoyed your writeup on it! I really think that the vineyard’s calling card is its aromatics- They are so feminine and across producers the wines deliver some serious depth. Ann Kraemer is an incredible farmer.

Thank you!

Thank you! We found the best shirts we could. Almost time to print another round.

I do have a question. When will some more black shirts be ready? Haha

… and you answered that, kinda.

We will release another run of black shirts around the Spring release (late April-ish). This next shirt will feature the 2013 Mourvedre “Especial” label.

Nice! Is it bad that I’m not sure which I’m more excited about (shirt or wine)?

I’m especial-ly excited about both!

I try to tell every wine geek I know to sign up for the D&R mailing list and buy whatever they can. Have yet to experience a bottle that wasn’t wacky/awesome/fun/soulful/delicious. Plus, Hardy being such a nice guy makes it easy to support his vision.

Put a wish-list request in for some of this Mourvedre after having some D&R Semillon by the glass at a local wine bar. Killer juice!

Thank you, Beau! I think everyone needs to check out your juice as well!

Thank you- The Sem is some crazy stuff!

Thank you for the kind words, my friend.

Don’t forget to save me some, my friend . . . . and bring it down next time you visit Kate’s folks so that we can trade!!!

Congrats!!! And you KNOW I love me some mo!

Shoot! As always, cant ship to PA

I put in my second round of wish list. We’ll see if gods favor me this time around.

We popped one of these last night to commemorate the new release:

• 2012 Dirty and Rowdy Mourvedre Shake Ridge Ranch - USA, California, Sierra Foothills, Amador County (8/31/2014)
  Light ruby garnet color. Decanted and took an initial taste, then returned to the cellar for about 90 minutes. Initially not giving up much on the nose, slight red fruits, earth, and pine sap, wife says something off but I don’t find that. The wine underwent a transformation after time with air - roses and strawberries on the nose, crunchy red fruit palate with herbs de Provence, slight camphor, and peppery, earthy finish. Weightless on the palate with silky texture. Very nice!

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