Community Tasting Note

• NPWolfe wrote: 86 points

  February 7, 2009 - Most places in the country don’t have good pit barbeque. Most people in the country eat stuff-that-is-called-barbeque and as a result have a low (though misguide) opinion of the genera. Fortunately I live in the epicenter (right outside Austin, Texas) of good pit barbeque. Central Texas barbeque is mostly brisket, with ribs and chicken not far behind and to a lesser extent pork and turkey. The qualitative difference between good pit barbeque and stuff-that-is-called-barbeque is as vast as the difference between McDonalds and Chez Panisse. Oh, and Central Texas pitmen were using all natural local products 100 years before Alice Waters was born. Really good pit barbeque is aromatic (yep, meat can be aromatic), succulent, flavorful, and fall apart tender. The traditional beverage to drink with barbeque is beer. Finding a wine that works and works well with barbeque took a long time (not that I had any problem with the search).
  
  This wine has a Hemingway style and charm and I could imagine him drinking it in the mountains with Spanish partisans. It is rustic, with direct flavors, sharp features, and is meant to be gulped rather than savored. The aroma is cherry vanilla cola that was stored in oak barrels. The structure is acidic and tannic enough to be sharp and distinct without being unpleasant. Big flavors of cherry, red liquorice, plum, and raspberry. The flavors had the directness of the flavors in Hansen’s All Natural Soda. Acidic finish with cherry chaser. I have found the wine at its best when served 5 to 10 degrees cooler than cellar temperature, think just above white wine temperature. At this temperature it is perfect with barbeque.

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