removed.
huge, Huger, and HUGEST
Here’s a note on one I had last week. It is my belief, that VC is getting more nuanced and interesting, if anything.
2008 Villa Creek Willow Creek Cuvée (USA, California, Central Coast, Paso Robles) 9/18/2010 Mike Dildine 92
50% Grenache, 30% Mourved, 20% Syrah. 15.2% alcohol. Expressive, mainly red fruit aromas. On the palate, we have cherries, plums blackberries and a bit of spice. Very well balanced. Lingering aftertaste. What makes this wine exceptional is the silky, creamy, rich and lucious mouthfeel. This will continue to improve with up to 3-5 years of bottle age. Nice job by Cris, Jo Ann and the team! (61 views)
$ FIND THIS WINE on WINE-SEARCHER.COM $
I’ve had the past 2 vintages of Mas de Maha and didn’t find it to be in the “huge” category. I believe there is quite a bit of whole cluster in this wine. Same with the Garnacha. For my tastes these two have been my favorites, with the Willow Creek Cuvee next. But I can’t really speak to the others as I don’t recall specifics from tasting at the winery the past 2 years.
I just tasted at the winery about a month ago and the wines are certainly on the big side, but they are hardly overblown. The Damas Noir which is 100% mourvedre was one of the best things I tasted on my trip, although I’m no Robert Parker so perhaps palate fatigue was an issue. Villa Creek’s current lineup is definitely not for those who favor subtle Northern Rhone styles, but for those who enjoy SQN or Saxum there is a lot to love at a much better price.
I was there about 18 months ago, tasted a lot of '06 and '07. From my perspective the best wine was La Boda, which was aged in larger foudres and had a large % of stem inclusion. The other wines were riper and oakier, though La Boda is a full bodied New World wine all the way, too, just with more spice and freshness. I guess for me they don’t really need more ripeness and oak, but they do that style well.
Ditto. Tasted there 9/5/10. Hardly overblown. liked what I tasted enough to buy a mixed 6 pack of 07 Avenger and 08 Willow Creek.
Sounds like they are reaching out to a younger/less experienced consumer with this approach. Funny- I asked Mike D about the wines in a tn thread the other day and his note, plus his comments here make me more interested in the wine than this type of marketing.
Anthony, irrespective of the marketing, VC continues to make a very serious (new world stlyed) wine. Very much in the Saxum, Alban style, with grapes from outstanding vineyards like James Berry and Denner.
“the power of Tempranillo without letting it’s aggressive tannins”
The “Power” of Tempranillo?!?!?!?!?
It’s “aggressive tannins”?!?!?!?
You have to do some pretty extreme stuff to Tempranillo for those to even exist!
Yeah, that seems to be an issue with CA Tempranillo. One of my favorite producers, Longoria, has a highly rated one by some critics. It’s big, burly and exudes oak spice. It tastes good in that CA dry port style, but realistically I can’t really grasp its varietal character given its style. VC’s Tempranillo blend takes a similar direction, IIRC.