2021 Groundwork Counoise- USA, California, Central Coast (5/13/2022)
Got gifted this by my next door neighbor winemaker at Hospice du Rhône in Paso. Love this. Bright, tart, almost effervescent. Leaning towards a natural wine in vibe, but no funk or funny stuff going on. Well made, just the fresh brightness and sour tart cherries I associate with that category. In fact, very similar to the first natural wine I ever had that sucked me in: Tony Coturri’s Albarello in 2016 - a transformative wine for me. At the time I didn’t know that wines could taste like that, like summer juice. Drank this Counoise fridge cold and it was a great match for the acid. Please get some this summer, it’s quite wonderful! (93 pts.)
Counoise is such a ‘niche’ variety to work with. Just like Cinsault, the berries are huge and therefore the grapes tend to make a lighter, more delicate style wine. The challenge as a winemaker is to let them be what they are and champion the style rather than make it what it’s not - and it sounds like Curt did a great job of doing just that.
It would be very interesting to see a later picked, more dense Counoise. It does seem to have similarities with Gamay in that the later styled ones could have a very interesting feel. I particularly think of Domaine Leroy’s Gamay from Burgundy - an earthy wonderful wine. Not big in any way, but certainly bigger for Gamay. I wonder what Counoise would do in the same vein, say picked at 23-25 brix?
