Community Tasting Note
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Jimaronson Likes this wine: 95 points
April 14, 2022 - Had this wine with MarkPT1 and HMC. The wine was full of butterscotch and butter characteristics. It was very smooth with a small amount of spice, and distinctively different than most wines. HMC informed us that the grape itself seemed to be missing from the taste profile and what we were experiencing was barrel treatment. The barrel is supposed to enhance the grape, not overwhelm it. I agree with him and found the wine to be unique. We discussed if the grape would have been Cabernet or Merlot and the outcome the same. We also discussed whether the bottle should be considered a wine in the traditional sense or some kind of manipulation. I wanted to just focus on whether the coffer was enjoyable, sustaining, more interesting as time went on, and something I would look forward to trying again. At this time, I am looking forward to trying another bottle and comparing it to the Syrah. If I find after several tries that andremely wines will taste the same and are not grape forward, but barrel forward, I will consider pairing down my purchases. Thanks HMC for enlightening us and giving me something extra to think about.
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4 Comments
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HowellMountainCru commented:
4/14/22, 6:04 AM - Jim I thought this wine was showing super strong Butter/butterscotch flavors at first and it was also showing big chocolate notes. When I used to make wine as a serious hobbyist I remember a lot of this type flavors coming from the barrel. While I still think the chocolate and some of the spice notes came from the barrel, I think the buttery flavors may not have.
So I looked up that flavor cause this morning and it seems the butter flavors are often a by product of secondary fermentation (malo). The chemical is Diacetyl. It is produced by the bacteria that converts the malic acid to Lactic but is often consumed by the bacteria during the process.
For this wine it may be that the maker stopped malo or an excess was left. By the way I found both the chocolate and butter smells and flavors much lower with time. Of course its possible that my receptors may have saturated over time LOL.
HMC -
Jimaronson commented:
4/14/22, 6:22 AM - Thanks for looking this up. I too thought that the butter slightly dissipated after two hours in the glass. We need to try other bottles to see if these attributes are what to expect in the future. Also, we need to consider what will happen 5 years from now? I have a 2018 and wonder if the profile is the same or if the 2016 is unique. The winemaker is excellent and I would be interested in hearing his comments. More to follow.
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Mark1npt commented:
4/14/22, 5:23 PM - I didn't seem to get as much butter as you two guys, did.....the Mourvèdre itself was quite nice and completely fooled me as far as the varietal. Thanks for bringing, James!
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Jimaronson commented:
4/14/22, 6:28 PM - I kind of agree with you, Mark. However, HMC is more sensitive that I to the profile and he is an engineer when it comes to figuring out how wine is made. I tasted the butter too, although I did not find it off pudding and it did dissipate over time. I have had bottles with a nose that smelled like swamp gas or low tide and yet the wine was excellent. The winemaker certainly gave us an added experience and I am looking forward to the next bottle and HMC's thoughts.