I went over to the Clos La Chance winery today and barrel tasted our 08 harvest. I really didn’t know what to expect and was very happy to find that the wine continues to develop nicely. The first tasting in early January revealed some fruitiness and some spiciness. The wine now seems almost a different animal. To my delight the wine is now fairly structured with major tannin bottom notes and chewiness. The fruit is still there but it is a ripe raspberry and not overstated. The acid balance is definitely noticeable. There are some earth notes with smoke coming through in the nose. The wine has a pleasant nose with a ripe berry aroma.
The thing that makes me the happiest at this point is the structure. It will be interesting to see how this develops. It appears that we definitely have something to work with here in the way of making a premium wine, which has been our goal. The wine is very dark deep purple turning violet at the edges. Dark and Inky but pretty in the glass, it stains the glass purple as is common with this variety. The finish is noticeable and very long. By now I am thinking barbecued beef and lingering over the wine at this point. As the tannins soften it will be interesting to see what flavors emerge in the finish. Right now there is some white pepper and some savoriness perhaps smokiness or charcoal. The finish goes on for a good long while ending with violet?
Matt said the winemaker was very happy with the results so far. He said they tasted peanut butter in the finish. Hmmm.
