So I opened this bottle yesterday, and am re-tasting now on Day 2. I don’t think I’ve ever had a Mourvedre that came across like this. If this
wine was served blind, I would guess Beaujolais, NOT Mourvedre. The color is somewhat light for a Mourvedre, and the wine is quite aromatic–lots
of cranberry & rhubarb. The taste follows the nose, with lots of crunchy midpalate acidity. With aeration, some of the darker, more savory/funky qualities I associate with Mourvedre come out, but those notes are still well behind an overwhelming Gamay-like wine.
The wine is listed at 12.7% alcohol, and it’s very lively; not at all heavy or ponderous. Excellent on its own, but the acidity really shines with food. Not yet quite complex enough for a Bruce L. “wow,” but a very strong “yum plus” with potential for more. Although there’s a fair amount of tannins on the finish, it doesn’t come across as a heavily tannic wine due to the midpalate mouthfeel and acidity.
I drank one of these last weekend and totally agree that it was unlike an mourvedre I’ve ever had. So easy drinking and really light. And I loved that it was so low alcohol.
Thanks for posting your notes.
Drank two bottles of this the other night at dinner with a client, and they were both phenomenal. As others mentioned, very unique, but with a awesome mouthfeel and a beautiful complexity of flavors.
Based on that, I had to coravin a little of the new Petite Sirah, that was also fantastic. Still tannic as expected but very approachable. I don’t think I would have ever clocked it as a PS blind, but damn if it wasn’t tasty. And under 12% alcohol?!?!? Unreal.
Great stuff Hardy! Count on me going deeper on Reds next time for sure.
Yes. This is very different. It is blend of 5 of our 8 Mourvèdre vineyards fermented with our normal (100% whole cluster, gentle extraction) method and the the Especial is 100% Santa Barbara Highlands fruit, but it has a very short whole cluster maceration wine (only 5 days). It is then pressed off into concrete and goes through most of fermentation off the skins.
There are also 7 vineyard designate Mourvèdre wines.
Separately but as a data point to consider, I have had three bottles of the 2014 D&R Familiar Blanc. Each time, it was a cloudy mess, was very tight showing little on the nose at opening, and then it opened up into a crazy, terrific wine. In fact due to this thread, I went to the local store and bought another.
Never met Hardy, but love the bizarre wines he is creating and the fact that there is an Atlanta connection.
Went to Vera last night for an anniversary dinner. Got the 2014 Especial Mourvedre. Was very nice. Lots of herbs up front. Opened to a bit more spice, and then some more dried, red fruits. Seemed to get cloudier towards the end. Nice acidity that made it a good food wine. Actually, this is a VERY good food wine, as with Vera being small plates, we ate several dishes, and this wine covered the gamut. Really glad I selected this bottle.
wanted to pop in and pile on more praise for this wine! I opened one up on Friday night but only had about a glass and a half, so put the rest in the fridge expecting to come back to it this weekend. That didn’t happen and my first opportunity was just now … more than 3 1/2 days later. It still needs to warm up a bit (sorry, I was too impatient to hold back posting), but still getting beautiful aromatics, wonderful dark fruit mixed with earth on the palate, and a lively peppery spice on the finish. As Hardy likes to say, Yeee-Haw!!
Editing to add that the dark fruit gave way to really pretty strawberries as the wine warmed up to cellar temp. I still have about 1/3 of the bottle left – will try some more tonight!
