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In Reply to: RE: Got my shipment from Trust. posted by jimbill on November 13, 2009 at 20:11:40
Jim,
What you call stem, I call herbal and it's a flavor that I think should be in Cabernet. People are getting so used to over ripe fruit smothered in new wood that I think we've all lost sight of what different varietals are supposed to taste like. Don't get me wrong, I don't believe in picking early( I'm usually the last one off in every block) and I hate vegetal flavors of under ripe fruit...what I'm trying to do is showcase the fruit and what makes cab different from Syrah, etc, etc.
BTW, stems do come to play in my Syrahs. I've been experimenting with whole cluster and throwing stems back in to fermentors...every year I use more and more.
Here's a review on the cab from Wine Enthusiast (for what it's worth):
This 80% Cabernet/20% Merlot is sleek and polished, with moderate levels of alcohol, pretty floral aromas, and a pleasing sense of winemaker restraint across the board. The oak is 30% new, the flavors a delicate mix of tart red fruits, some vanilla, cola and earth. The tannins are just right also; this is a wine that could surprise with more time in the cellar.
Steve
PS, next time let the wines sit for a few days after shipping...also have you ever tried any Lewis Syrah from Januik?
Follow Ups:
It is fun to speak with a producer. Usually you get the same wine speak everytime at a tasting room from the hired help who hears the same questions every day.
I do understand the preference for the over ripened and soft wines that have been popular. I blame WS and Australia for this. They are drinkable right now and that is what new wine drinkers want. But it will change because these new players will start to expect more and their trophy wines won't age very well
But I have been drinking lots of CS's from Califoria for going on 30 years now. I have also been drinking French wines based on CS for the same amount of time. I actually had more French for the first 10 years because California seemed to think that 100% CS was better than blending. Mostly strong, purple, one-dimensional wines
I don't think herbal is a beneficial component of CS. Tight fruit and strong tannins can eventually mellow and make for complex tastes that surprise at every sip. Herbal and green stay there and don't tame and I don't find them attractive.
I enjoyed your wine! It had a minimal herbal/green flavor. It was your choice as a winemaker. Thank you for making it for me. I say this sincerely because making wine is an artistic endeavor because you are making something stricly for someone else's pleasure. Probably the only artistic "crop" out there.
Now, from a science point, why do you think a new wine needs to settle for a few days before drinking? I agree that an older wine will throw sediment so you must let it settle before decanting. If you buy a recently released wine from a store and drive it 15 miles until you get it home should you let it rest for a week? Have you tested this theory? I will forewarn you that I don't believe in expensive speaker cables either....
And no, I haven't tried the Januik Syrah. I called and had them ship me some of their CS after getting a WS Advance email. As much as I hate to think that I take their recommendations I still tend to go with their takes. It sucks not being on the inside anymore (retailer, winery owner, or rich consumer). I went to their website after your comment and it doesn't seem they have any left.
I would appreciate any other recommendations you might offer from the Washington area.
"Now, from a science point, why do you think a new wine needs to settle for a few days before drinking? I agree that an older wine will throw sediment so you must let it settle before decanting. If you buy a recently released wine from a store and drive it 15 miles until you get it home should you let it rest for a week? Have you tested this theory? I will forewarn you that I don't believe in expensive speaker cables either...."
Like a lot of things in audio, there is much about wine that I can not explain. Here's a good example: In 2008, I bottled one barrel of 2006 Lewis Vineyard Syrah for my wine club. The wine was removed from barrel to a tank with a pump...but a pretty gentle pump. The wine moved from the tank to the hand bottling device by gravity. It was a good wine, actually it was really good. A few weeks after I bottled it, I tasted it out of bottle and it was not good...the finish was a disaster...terribly abrupt...while I recognized it as the same wine, it was not the same as I tasted before going into bottle and other "winemaker friends" had no trouble telling me so! I really thought I had screwed something up, I looked back at my notes for bottling, but couldn't find anything that looked like a mistake ( it wasn't filtered, so bottling by hand is a pretty simple process). Three months later I open a bottle and it's back to it's wonderful self. In fact, I sent one bottle out for review and the reviewer ranked it as the 11th best wine in the Pacific NW for that year...one behind Quilceda Creek Cab which was a 100 point wine by someone's account. I also used that wine to sign people up for my wine club...there's now a 7 year wait list to get in!
So why does bottle shock exist, what explains it...I have no idea. Why do most winemakers feel they needto ship their wine to an event a week early to let it sit...dunno. Why do my cryo'd long crystal Chimera speaker cables sound so good? Dunno. They just do and I'm fine with that.
BTW, neither the Lewis Syrah nor the Chimeras are that expensive, but when I find something I like....
Yeah, I'd forgotten that term. I always thought it applied to the disturbance of the wine going from barrel to bottle. But I guess excessive movement of the bottle might have the same effect.
I'll try an experiment next time I have a few people over and I know I'll be serving more than one bottle of the same wine. If I give one bottle a good shaking a few times during the day that should simulate shipping and handling effects. Then do a blind tasting to see if there is a noticable difference.
I'll keep my eye out for the Lewis. Tried your Riesling last night. Very nice. Your description of apricots and peaches was right on. I like that yours had the feel of a good Mosel, but maybe with a bit more muscle. Good balance of sugar and acid.
I don't think that is a valid experiment. Think about how that bottle gets to you. After I deliver it to UPS, it gets put on a truck, taken off of that truck and put onto either a truck or a train...how many times that happens I have no idea....but think of the constant motion. I would think that it's moving more often than it's sitting still. Plus we aren't even discussing temperature swings. It's traveling at night and during the day in different climates. The packaging does give some insulation, but it can do only so much.
After my last post I did a bit of searching and bottle shock is usually related to the muting of flavors after the wine has been bottled.
My initial post was a good review of your wine but noting some "green" flavor. I don't think this would come from bottle shock.
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