BerserkerFest 8.0 - Tercero lineup with homemade bread

WINE TALK
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Made a quick run up to Los Olivos to run through the line up at Tercero. Larry is in a bread baking phase of his life right now and had two loaves of bread he baked that morning. The “non-rye” Rye bread with the secret ingredient of pickle juice, yes you read that correctly, no rye and pickle juice is amazing. The other loaf had smoked Gouda cheese in it. Delicious.

Quick side story. Larry had just picked up a bunch of barrel samples and was playing with blending. He lined them up on the bar and said “have a taste, which of these do you prefer?” Well, if you’re a cork dork like me, that’s pure heaven. A lady with her friends in the tasting room, who was quite annoying, had seen me scratching out notes and then heard us discussing the various blending samples jumps in with “Excuse me, are you a professional wine critic?” I turned to her and thought for a second. As I was just about to bust out “I’m Robert Parker” my wife interjects “He’s just a guy that likes to write notes.” Damn woman!!! I could of been somebody!!! Guess I’m just a latex salesman after all.

  • 2010 Tercero Grenache Watch Hill Vineyard - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Barbara County (11/26/2014)
    I guess this was just release since I created it in CT. Very bright ruby color, sparkling. Nose is cherry, herbs, sage brush, and crisp. Tannins are fine but there’s a grip wrapped around a bing cherry core. Very complex. Medium finish. Very good and let this sit for a couple of years.
  • 2010 Tercero Mourvedre Larner Vineyard - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Ynez Valley (11/26/2014)
    This is like getting punched in the face and I like it. I bought some. Really dark color and the palate has tons of herbs, pepper, blackberry, and dark fruit. Long rough and tumble finish with a dry ending. If you open this now do it the night before. I’m burying mine deep with a “do not touch” note.
  • 2010 Tercero Syrah White Hawk Vineyard - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Barbara County (11/26/2014)
    Excellent. Incense aromas. Blackberry and dark cherry fruit with a chalk foundation. Tannins are fine and a medium weight in the mouth. Really long finish. Very good.
  • 2010 Tercero verbiage (rouge) - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Barbara County (11/26/2014)
    Dark maroon like a black cherry. Enticing nose, attractive dark fruit, and touch of heat. Another solidly built wine with angular tannins and I’m getting a stem note. There’s no whole cluster here so don’t believe your everything you smell. Long finish. I scribbled down “hide in the cellar”.
  • 2011 Tercero Mourvedre - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Barbara County (11/26/2014)
    Somebody smarter than me needs to set the drinking window on this wine. Although very dark garnet color, there’s a clarity to it and I can see through the glass. Cool. Ripe cherry aroma although that doesn’t hop out on the palate. Lots of structure here with an extremely long finish. Big boy mourvedre.
  • 2012 Tercero Viognier Camp 4 Vineyard - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Barbara County (11/26/2014)
    This was a little gift from the wine gods that showed up in barrel so they bottled it. Chris loves this wine so a bottle followed us home and we’ll pop it with her father. RS is something like 4. Sweet pear, obviously, with medium plus weight but the acid does a nice job of holding this all together and preventing from becoming syrupy.
  • 2012 Tercero Viognier White Hawk Vineyard - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Barbara County (11/26/2014)
    I like Tercero Viognier. Quick note because I’ve tasted this before but noticed a honey not this time and added some weight, med+
  • 2013 Tercero Gewürztraminer The Outlier - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Barbara County (11/26/2014)
    Very light color. Big perfume nose and pear fruit. Palate is loaded with acid and strong pear flavors. Very clean finish. I like this vintage better than the last few and they were good.
  • 2013 Tercero Verbiage Blanc - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Barbara County (11/26/2014)
    Pale yellow color, even a little bronze hue. Excellent aromas and a whiff of honey. Palate of pearl, med+ acidty, great complexity, and nice balance. Long finish and a ridiculous QPR for a white rhone blend. I guess I’m a sucker for all things rhone.

Posted from CellarTracker

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Great notes. Thanks for posting. I need to get to the tasting room sometime soon.

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So you want to be a wine critic…

GREAT NOTES!!! Can’t wait to try these when I’m out in December.
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We tasted the line up on Friday and sniffed the blends. Two stood out. Total geekdom!

Great notes, Brig.
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It was also a surprise to see Mae apple working for Tercero now, a good surprise.

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Great post, Brig. What is the verbiage? Sounds like something a lawyer like me should buy.

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Rouge version is the GSM. Was called Christie’s Cuvee but renamed it. The blanc version is a new white Rhone blend. That’s very tasty.

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I popped a bottle over the weekend. Nice blend of three varietals. Very adaptable wine.

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Brig,

It was GREAT seeing you and Chris once again this past weekend during Berserkerfest (I know - where in the heck is my HASHTAG!!!). It was fun hanging out on Saturday night and then seeing the two of you in the tasting room on Sunday.

Yes, I do like to bake these days - and regularly make a few loaves each weekend that I end up taking into the tasting room. For those of you who follow me on Facebook, you already know all of this :slight_smile:

I was so darned happy to share some of my latest releases with you guys - as well as some barrel samples. I dig the opportunity to do this - I believe my winemaking style can be defined as ‘still developing’ and I hope that will be the case for a long time to come!

Just a few notes on the wines. Many of those tasted - the 2010 Watch Hill Grenache, 2010 White Hawk Syrah, 2012 Viognier, 2013 Verbiage Blanc and perhaps the 2010 Larner Mourvedre - had been opened the day before so you were trying them on Day 2.

My 2010’s all saw 34 months in older French oak barrels and were not racked during elevage until preparation for bottling. My 2011s all saw 30 months in older French oak and were also not racked.

That Larner Mourvedre is part of a ‘barrel select’ program - the majority of the lot goes into a larger blend, but I hold back single barrels of specific varieties from specific vineyards because I think they are truly distinctive. Therefore, only approximately 25 cases are produced.

The 2010 White Hawk Syrah was my first from the Vineyard. It was co-fermented with about 5% Viognier from the Vineyard and had about 15% whole cluster inclusion. She’s just a baby and I can’t wait to see how she develops.

As others have noted, the Verbiage (rouge) replaces my Cuvee Christie for some obvious reasons :slight_smile: I like to say it’s me on a bottle - I love the word verbiage and fits me (I like to talk) as well as my philosophy that the goal of each of my wines is to tell the story of that vintage, those vineyards, and reflect my level of winemaking knowledge / intuition / luck at that time. The 2010 version is 62.5% Grenache, 25% Syrah and 12.5% Mourvedre.

The Verbiage Blanc is my first stab at a rhone white blend, and though it is and ‘unconventional’ blend of 42% Roussanne, 29% Grenache Blanc and 29% Viognier, in this case, to me, the sum is greater than its parts. I’m psyched about how this wine is showing so early after bottling in late August.

Thanks again and I’m looking forward to getting together with you and Chris, Nancy and Sal, and so many others at Falltacular in February if not sooner!

Cheers!

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We look forward to Falltacular 2015, too, Larry. Loved seeing you and visiting your tasting room at Berserkerfest.