TN: 2007 Copain Wentzel PN

WINE TALK
1

I received an email circular from Copain today regarding the upcoming release that begins on October 30. Among other wines to be released, Copain will re-release the 2007 Wentzel PN (I had heard that this would be the case in some correspondence I recently had with the good people at Copain). I bought a few of these earlier this year but had not tried one until last night, when I decided to check it out in light of the new buying opportunity.

Last night the wine was a bit austere, hard and disjointed. Nevertheless, it contained intense, mouth-filling flavors of tart blackberry and current, loam and chalky minerality. The wine had structure and plenty of acidity. It also was very light on its feet with a stated abv of only 13.5%. Overnight, the hard edges have softened and the disparate elements have come together a bit. Today the wine is offers a fragrant nose of dark fruit and loam in addition to the intense flavor profile from the day before. The finish is very long. It is clear to me that this wine will be nicely balanced with a few more years in bottle. I also think that this wine will be very versatile at table.

Much has been said about Copain’s new stylistic direction of making lower alcohol, better balanced, food-friendly wines. This Pinot Noir is an exciting example of it in my opinion.

2

Brad, I tasted the wine last weekend when I was up @ Copain. To me, as I recall describing it, the wine married both red fruits and structure, apple, strawberry, etc. It was like both forces were marrying together and with more time, the wine will get even better. No heat, just fruit and undercarriage and age ahead of it.

3

I agree, Frank. No heat whatsoever. Just a lot of intense fruit flavors integrating with other elements. Very exciting stuff.

I can’t wait to see your podcast performances, by the way. [welldone.gif] It must be interesting to sit down with Wells while drinking these wines. Now that you are a movie star maybe you’ll give me your autograph someday?

4

Wells is very excited about Wentzel. Its a very cool site behind (to the south) the Goldeneye tasting room in the middle of the forest. Its farmed organicly and no expense is spared. Sean Thackrey also gets some Wentzel fruit but hasn’t released his '07 yet. I don’t have much to do with running the place, but always help out with harvest.

5

Wells really hit on all cylinders in 2007!
But these wines require a bit of bottle aging to bring them to full fruition!

TTT