2017 Ochota Barrels the green room

Community Tasting Notes (6) Median Score: 89 points

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  8/12/2023 - colinscellar Likes this wine: 92 Points

  Tart cranberry and pomegranate with some darker, richer cherry behind it. Yeasty notes. Crunchy acidity that gets the saliva going. More concentrated than typical rosé but lighter and brighter than typical Grenache. Low-ish alcohol and best served chilled, feels custom-made for barbecue drinking. Perhaps not deeply complex but it's super refreshing.
  I think foreknowledge is key to enjoyment. If I ordered this in a restaurant in the contexts I would normally want a Rhone I'd be disappointed, but if you know it's rosé-adjacent, almost wine-as-beer, then it's enjoyable as hell.

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  8/3/2022 - forceberry wrote: 91 Points

  A blend of Grenache (92%) and Syrah (8%) from a vineyard planted in 1946. 50% of the wine was fermented whole bunch, 40% destemmed and 10% entirely with carbonic maceration. The wine was macerated with the skins for 6 to 88 days, depending on the lot and based entirely by textural quality. After the fermentation the wine was aged for 2-ish months in used French oak barriques. Bottled unfined and unfiltered. 11,8% alcohol. Tasted blind.
  
  Translucent, slightly hazy, moderately dark cherry-red color with a subtly evolved maroon hue. The nose feels fragrant, floral and zesty with fascinating aromas of orange blossom and chamomile, some wild strawberry tones, a little bit of brambly blackberry, light woody notes of old oak, crunchy hints of cranberries and crowberries, a lifted touch of VA and a whiff of lemon-scented hand soap. Lots of things going on here! The wine is lively and crunchy on the palate with a light-to-medium body and fresh, dry flavors of wild strawberries and tart cranberries, some earthy tones, a little bit of gravelly minerality, light perfumed floral nuances, a woody hint of dry old oak and a savory touch of meaty umami. The structure relies mainly on the fresh and zippy acidity, even if the medium-minus tannins bring a little bit of firmness and grip to the palate. The finish is fresh, lively and quite clean with a little bit of tannic grip and a crunchy aftertaste of wild strawberries and tart cranberries, some sanguine notes of iron, a little bit of meaty umami, light floral notes of violets and orange blossom, a hint of tangy salinity and a touch of brambly blackberry.
  
  A very fresh, bright and eminently drinkable effort for an Australian Grenache. It feels like the wine was harvested when the Grenache grapes were barely ripe, yet still the wine doesn't come across as thin, weedy or dilute, but instead full of flavor and character. I have no idea how one can make a wine like this - stylistically closer to Cru Beaujolais or the red wines of Jura than anything you'd associate with new world Grenache - but if the end result is this delicious, I don't mind. This is not made to be a big or impressive wine, but instead a refreshing and versatile food wine that drinks really well on its own, too. I have no idea whether this will evolve into something even more interesting with age, but seeing how well the wine drinks right now, one really doesn't have to think about its cellaring potential. Priced more or less according to its quality at approx. 30€.

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  6/29/2019 - kingkanu wrote: 87 Points

  Very lean with a slight bitter finish, when the fruit shows its bright and red, could do with a little more of it

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  4/19/2019 - Château Shenton Does not like this wine: 65 Points

  OMG so nasty ��
  
  Acid and more acid. Mouth puckeringly sour.

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  3/10/2018 - Cabernetdialectic Likes this wine: 90 Points

  Fresh, pert, savoury red done in a bit of a Beaujolais style. Is that a whiff of canvas-like Brett on the nose? Recalls hibiscus tisane, oolong tea, cranberries, other wild red berries from the tundra, lemon zest, oregano/thyme/za’taar, and rhubarb, with a core of high-toned underripe strawberry fruit. Brisk acidity. Compact, tightly-wound, light-footed, and elegant. Also easy to crush.

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