Full Pull

• By Paul Zitarelli
  Full Pull Snowflake, 3/8/2017

  (Andrew Will Flaneurs) Hello friends. Will Camarda recently paid us a visit at the warehouse, and one of the wines he poured was a real snowflake: never seen before, never to be seen again. The first thing I should say about this wine is that it is a white-label wine for Andrew Will, which is usually an indication of seriousness and quality for the winery. The most recent white-label wines we offered from Andrew Will had top-line prices of $67, $78, and $88. Even at Flaneurs’ regular $35 tag, it would represent an exceptional value. We’re able to move even a bit lower today due to a robust volume commitment, to a place where we can offer a white-label Andrew Will wine at a black-label tariff. A Bordeaux blend (50/32/18 Merlot/Cab Franc/Cab) from Andrew Will that does not come from a single vineyard? Rare indeed. In fact, this is the first I can remember encountering. It combines two vineyards familiar to fans of the winery: their estate Two Blondes Vineyard, and Ciel du Cheval on Red Mountain. I don’t know exactly what compelled Chris and Will to let loose and make this blend in 2013, but I can tell you that Flaneurs does not exist in 2014, 2015, nor 2016, and there are no plans to recreate it going forward. It’s a beautiful one-off; a true limited-edition wine. Oh, and the name? It’s a French word describing a person who is somewhere between a louche idler and literary man-about-town. Definitely someone who spends a lot of time in cafés reading difficult texts and opining to anyone within earshot. Basically it’s what I aspire to in my later years. Raised in 35% new French oak for 21 months, the wine clocks in at 14.5% listed alc and begins with a nose that evokes both vineyards: cherry and cocoa powder and ferrous minerality from Ciel; more cherry fruit and a signature thread of smoked paprika from Two Blondes. It’s a harmonious pairing to be sure. Texturally, this is just marvelous, managing the neat trick of combining elegance with intensity. A lovely dustiness emerges in the mid-palate and rolls through into a long, chewy finish. The mix of fruit and non-fruit (earth, mineral, spice) elements is pinpoint here. This is just classy as hell, very much in keeping with the white label. I’d encourage those of you who normally put a hard cap of $20/btl on your purchasing to consider a splurge here. We may never see a white-label Andrew Will bottling at anything near this tariff again.