2017 Mourvèdre, Sierra Foothills
92 pts - The Wine Enthusiast
100% varietal wine from the Tanner Vineyard in Calaveras County. The flavors are rustic with jammy fruit, baking spice and dried herbs.
In Stock
Wine Specs
Vintage
2017
Varietal
Mourvedre
Appellation
Sierra Foothills
Harvest Date
October 4, 2017
Sugar
25.2
Acid
5.89 gms/L
pH
3.87
Aging
11 months French Oak
Fermentation
Native Yeast
Bottling Date
July 30, 2018
Residual Sugar
0.00
Alcohol %
14.2
Wine Profile
Tasting Notes
The wine features black cherry compote, leather and barnyard aromas, but with a hint of licorice that weaves in and out of the glass. The flavors are rustic that add some baking spice, jammy fruit and dried Provencal herbs. The wine is soft with tannin coming forward at the mid palate providing the structure I seek in our wines. Our Mourvèdre will continue to develop well for the next 8-10 years.
Vineyard Notes
Mourvèdre is a very popular grape in south Rhone, Provence and northern Spain. It is also a varietal that has been in California for well over a century. It is a little controversial for some consumers as they can’t quite wrap their heads around their characteristics of this wine that separates it from the crowd. The rose’ produced from Mourvèdre is awesome with a lot of peach and watermelon.But, the red version is typically rustic with leather, hints of barnyard, a little road tar…but a lot of black fruits, licorice and other accompanying aromas and flavors. These are very well structured wines and go extremely well with both pastured raised meats and wild game. Our 2017 comes from the family owned Tanner Vineyard in Calaveras County. With an abundance of sunshine and considerable heat, requirements for high quality Mourvèdre, and grown at elevation in very rocky porous soils, our Mourvèdre shows its varietal character in spades.
Production Notes
After picking the fruit at midnight I transported the grapes to the winery arriving at 2am with the faithful lab beast, Anu. We destemmed the fruit, but maintained the whole berries for a better retention of fresh fruit. This beautiful Mourvèdre underwent a cold soak for four days to help increase the color, mid-palate richness and complexity of flavors and aromas. Native yeast began the fermentation, during which we would punch down twice daily until dryness, at which time we pressed the lot. In barrel we only racked twice before the wine was ready for bottling 11 months later.