Community Tasting Note

• steven.mendelson Likes this wine: 87 points

  August 26, 2015 - ETOH: 14.3%
  
  Varietals: 80% cab franc and 20% merlot per this source - which also has a good review of the wine.
  http://www.winewired.com/2015/06/dry-creek-valley-ava-pedroncelli-cabernet-franc/
  
  Appearance: Rich full purple, not cloudy, rather a lovely sheen. The viscosity is lower than I would have expected.
  
  Nose: Has a bit of the lovely light floral I expect, but is stronger and a bit syrupy sweet with some black or boysenberry notes (from the Merlot?). Overall pleasing, but not fabulous.
  
  Palate: When first tasted it was somewhat raw. Now, after being open about 45 minutes, it is integrating well. Now it enters the front of the palate smoothly, becomes a little vague mid-palate, and goes down smoothly, but upon inhalation afterwards the front palate feels a bit unbalanced and tannic, not surprising considering it is a 2013. This is a bigger wine, less subtle and less elegant than the Amphora Cab Franc I had a week ago that was a 2009 (Amphora makes some excellent wines, I tried a lot of them last week and took notes, I should write them up). Of course the Amphora is $35+/-. Similarly the Ramazotti Cab Franc is light, ethereal, and elegant like the Amphora and about $40+/-. By the way, Ramazotti's Grenache is another lovely elegant wine, rather light on its feet, but so smooth.
  
  Per the web site listed above:
  
  The wine sees 15 months in new and seasoned American and French oak barrels (25% new French oak).
  
  Note: Pedroncelli is an old Dry Creek producer starting in the 1920s. They usually make workmanlike wines that are better than many at their price points, with the typical Italian red flavor profiles that still existed in the 1960s and 1970s, with decent fruitness and somewhat strong tannins. This wine falls within that tradition. It is not the smooth, slightly sweet red blends that so many of the corporate wineries are producing to seduce the the children in their 20s and 30s, which I generally detest, tho that type of pablum is terrific for serving to guests who know little about wine. This is a genuine wine, solidly within the middle range Italian red style, and I expect it to improve for five to ten years, perhaps longer. I am not real experienced in 100% or high percentage cab francs, so I cannot really predict how long it will last, but I would imagine 10 years, potentially longer.
  
  Conclusions & QPR: This is a genuine wine, solidly within the middle range Italian red style, and I expect it to improve for five to ten years, perhaps longer. I am not real experienced in 100% or high percentage cab francs, so I cannot really predict how long it will last, but I would imagine 10 years, potentially longer. I wish them the best of luck.
  For a California wine the QPR is pretty high. . . worth buying a few to keep to see how they turn out by 2020 or later. I am giving it an 87 to 90 because I like some aspects of it and I am hopeful it will grow into its self.

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1 Comment

• rjquillin commented:

  1/7/16, 8:26 PM - Nice summary.
  Generally I find Pedroncelli benefit well from 12~24+ months of additional cellaring.

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