Unfortunately at this point like watered down cherry juice, highly acidic. Another lesson learned on not keeping bottles of wine that are attractive because they are fresh and juicy on release for another 4-5 years...
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Agree with Venice CA's 6/2015 notes completely. Interesting wine focused on old vine Cinsault. The length and finish surprised me too. Fun but I don't need to drink this very frequently. Paid $19 for one btl and worth checking out.
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Decanted 1 hr. ahead. Medium ruby-garnet color, with purple flashes. Nice but shy nose of white pepper, red fruit, rhubarb, and spice notes. Light body on the palate, with a bright, lifted texture led by cherry flavors and spice. Acid balance is not tart, but nearly so; refreshing is a good way to say it. The finish is longer than you might expect for wine this light, as the drying notes prolong into very low tannins. Good, light-bodied, not too challenging. Completely pleasant.
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Medium light red, young and fresh nose with tones of redcurrant, parsley and pepper. Slight reductive notes, on the palate lingonberries, cranberry, high acidity, medium tannins, short but still lingering.
Special style, 100% cinsault. Lightbodied, young in character. Perhaps not an everyday wine but could probably give a better showing paired with the right type of food.
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A Cinsaut made from a centenarian vineyard, planted in 1886. As I had tasted this wine half a year ago, I was looking toward tasting it again.
Translucent cherry red color. Surprisingly understated, reticent and lean nose with vague aromas of phenolic spice, ripe damson, some bretty Band-Aid and a touch of leafy greenness. The wine is dry, youthful and similarly closed on the palate with crunchy, understated flavors of tart cranberries and lingonberries, some sweeter dark berries, a little bit of earth, a hint of rusty iron and a touch of smoke. The wine is high in acidity with quite mellow medium-minus tannins. The finish is dry, hollow and rather short with flavors of tart red berries and some metallic iron character.
A big disappointment after the previous taste. I've normally liked very much Birichino wines, but this was simply dead and hollow. Most likely there is some bottle variation between the wines and this bottle had some brett that masked away most of the fragrant fruit character of the wine - at least the phenolic notes of smoke, Band-Aid and rusty iron pointed out to the presence of brett. And not the lovely, funky and barnyardy kind, but instead of the bitter, smoky and medicinal kind. Marking this wine as "defective" seeing how it was so different from the previous taste.
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Translucent and very primary pale ruby color. Slightly reduced funky but very primary fruit nose, with a very juicy, transparent palate. Think a California Cinsault made by someone who's really into Jura Ploussards.
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Never had a pure Cinsault wine before. Juicy, light at first with dominant lingon berry nose. In the background there is some hay, sweet liquorice, granny smith apples. After some time hints of flowers, pine tree and marshsmallows showed up.
The wine has a very light body on the palate. One of the most lightbodied wines I ever encountered before. Juicy with lingon berries, lemon juice, granny smith apples and blue berries. Decent sandy minerals. Good acid thanks to the very old wine stocks. It is gripping, follows right through the wave and fades out slowly. Some viol candy and rowan berries supports the acid in the aftertaste.
At first the acid was too dominating but after some time it integrated with the fruit and the wine became as interesting as it is worth its price tag. 16 euros a bottle. Well worth it.
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Complex and intriguing nose full of funk, raw meat, seared minced beef, mustard, minerals, spices, oak, yeast and a bunch of dark berries.
High, tart acidity with a very dry palate. Light bodied with a dry, just slightly bitter finish. Good length and intensity. Quality stuff, and I really like it. Cali Cinsault wasn't my first guess though!
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The nose is youthful and has a medium+ aroma intensity. Aromas of dark berries, gravel, garrigue, black pepper, violets and wild raspberries. The wine was evolving in the glass during the whole night. At first a bit fruit-driven and after a couple of hours the wine started to take on a more spicy character with undergrowth and herbs. Very intriguing nose.
The palate is dry and juicy with a medium acidity, body and tannin. The flavor intensity is medium with flavors of black berries, raspberries, gravel, pepper, garrigue and flowers. The finish is medium. Very cool for it's origin.
A very interesting and fun wine, like all wines from Birichino that I've tasted. Easy drinking and should be drunk rather soon.
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Translucent cherry red color. Very fragrant and attractive nose with floral tones, some very ripe and almost sweet red fruit aromas, a little bit of white pepper, a hint of chocolate shavings and a sappy streak of something slightly leafy vegetal. The wine is dry, pure and crunchy on the palate with rather high - almost racy - acidity, light-to-medium body and bright, well-delineated and really fruit-forward flavors of tart cranberries, sweet boysenberries and wild strawberries, some sour cherries and hints of brambly raspberries. The wine is very lively and vibrant on the palate with very mellow yet ever so slightly angular tannins. The finish is lively, refreshing and really pure with vibrant, crunchy flavors of raspberries, sour cherries, cranberries, some blackberries and a hint of slightly bitter peppery spice.
A very fun, super-crunchy and thoroughly tasty little red with lovely, pure, fruit-forward character. The wine is very easily approachable yet remarkably serious at the same time. There's a lot of complexity, yet it is also really open and straightforward in style. With its light, acid-driven and fruit-driven style, this is a real antithesis to the "normal" Californian style, which only makes it even more fascinating. Super lovely, I just can't stop diggin' this stuff. Highly recommended.
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Quite light at first, grew with air. Fruity with a earthy tone, low alcohol but still decent backbone. This is young, and after 1-2hours it got more interresting. Drink now- 2 years.
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4/20/2019 - jrick wrote:
Unfortunately at this point like watered down cherry juice, highly acidic. Another lesson learned on not keeping bottles of wine that are attractive because they are fresh and juicy on release for another 4-5 years...
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3/28/2017 - Tony Molester Does not like this wine:
High toned acidity, very unlikeable...avoid although I generally enjoy the wines from Birichino.
12% abv
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1/3/2017 - Lilja wrote: 88 Points
Juicy and fresh!
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7/6/2015 - chablis28 wrote: 88 Points
Agree with Venice CA's 6/2015 notes completely. Interesting wine focused on old vine Cinsault. The length and finish surprised me too. Fun but I don't need to drink this very frequently. Paid $19 for one btl and worth checking out.
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6/10/2015 - VeniceCalif wrote: 88 Points
Decanted 1 hr. ahead. Medium ruby-garnet color, with purple flashes. Nice but shy nose of white pepper, red fruit, rhubarb, and spice notes. Light body on the palate, with a bright, lifted texture led by cherry flavors and spice. Acid balance is not tart, but nearly so; refreshing is a good way to say it. The finish is longer than you might expect for wine this light, as the drying notes prolong into very low tannins. Good, light-bodied, not too challenging. Completely pleasant.
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6/5/2015 - Krassens wrote: 86 Points
Medium light red, young and fresh nose with tones of redcurrant, parsley and pepper. Slight reductive notes, on the palate lingonberries, cranberry, high acidity, medium tannins, short but still lingering.
Special style, 100% cinsault. Lightbodied, young in character. Perhaps not an everyday wine but could probably give a better showing paired with the right type of food.
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5/4/2015 - forceberry wrote: flawed
A Cinsaut made from a centenarian vineyard, planted in 1886. As I had tasted this wine half a year ago, I was looking toward tasting it again.
Translucent cherry red color. Surprisingly understated, reticent and lean nose with vague aromas of phenolic spice, ripe damson, some bretty Band-Aid and a touch of leafy greenness. The wine is dry, youthful and similarly closed on the palate with crunchy, understated flavors of tart cranberries and lingonberries, some sweeter dark berries, a little bit of earth, a hint of rusty iron and a touch of smoke. The wine is high in acidity with quite mellow medium-minus tannins. The finish is dry, hollow and rather short with flavors of tart red berries and some metallic iron character.
A big disappointment after the previous taste. I've normally liked very much Birichino wines, but this was simply dead and hollow. Most likely there is some bottle variation between the wines and this bottle had some brett that masked away most of the fragrant fruit character of the wine - at least the phenolic notes of smoke, Band-Aid and rusty iron pointed out to the presence of brett. And not the lovely, funky and barnyardy kind, but instead of the bitter, smoky and medicinal kind. Marking this wine as "defective" seeing how it was so different from the previous taste.
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3/8/2015 - yofog wrote:
Translucent and very primary pale ruby color. Slightly reduced funky but very primary fruit nose, with a very juicy, transparent palate. Think a California Cinsault made by someone who's really into Jura Ploussards.
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2/14/2015 - Dovberg wrote: 86 Points
From 128 year old wine stocks, 100 % Cinsault.
Never had a pure Cinsault wine before. Juicy, light at first with dominant lingon berry nose. In the background there is some hay, sweet liquorice, granny smith apples. After some time hints of flowers, pine tree and marshsmallows showed up.
The wine has a very light body on the palate. One of the most lightbodied wines I ever encountered before. Juicy with lingon berries, lemon juice, granny smith apples and blue berries. Decent sandy minerals. Good acid thanks to the very old wine stocks. It is gripping, follows right through the wave and fades out slowly. Some viol candy and rowan berries supports the acid in the aftertaste.
At first the acid was too dominating but after some time it integrated with the fruit and the wine became as interesting as it is worth its price tag. 16 euros a bottle. Well worth it.
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12/17/2014 - Lilja Likes this wine: 90 Points
Complex and intriguing nose full of funk, raw meat, seared minced beef, mustard, minerals, spices, oak, yeast and a bunch of dark berries.
High, tart acidity with a very dry palate. Light bodied with a dry, just slightly bitter finish. Good length and intensity. Quality stuff, and I really like it. Cali Cinsault wasn't my first guess though!
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12/16/2014 - karl.1480 Likes this wine: 88 Points
Medium ruby color.
The nose is youthful and has a medium+ aroma intensity. Aromas of dark berries, gravel, garrigue, black pepper, violets and wild raspberries. The wine was evolving in the glass during the whole night. At first a bit fruit-driven and after a couple of hours the wine started to take on a more spicy character with undergrowth and herbs. Very intriguing nose.
The palate is dry and juicy with a medium acidity, body and tannin. The flavor intensity is medium with flavors of black berries, raspberries, gravel, pepper, garrigue and flowers. The finish is medium. Very cool for it's origin.
A very interesting and fun wine, like all wines from Birichino that I've tasted. Easy drinking and should be drunk rather soon.
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10/1/2014 - geeky? not sure wrote:
Tasty quaffer. Would have guessed Trousseau. Citrusy with a little spice.
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9/22/2014 - forceberry wrote: 92 Points
A Cinsaut made from a centenarian vineyard.
Translucent cherry red color. Very fragrant and attractive nose with floral tones, some very ripe and almost sweet red fruit aromas, a little bit of white pepper, a hint of chocolate shavings and a sappy streak of something slightly leafy vegetal. The wine is dry, pure and crunchy on the palate with rather high - almost racy - acidity, light-to-medium body and bright, well-delineated and really fruit-forward flavors of tart cranberries, sweet boysenberries and wild strawberries, some sour cherries and hints of brambly raspberries. The wine is very lively and vibrant on the palate with very mellow yet ever so slightly angular tannins. The finish is lively, refreshing and really pure with vibrant, crunchy flavors of raspberries, sour cherries, cranberries, some blackberries and a hint of slightly bitter peppery spice.
A very fun, super-crunchy and thoroughly tasty little red with lovely, pure, fruit-forward character. The wine is very easily approachable yet remarkably serious at the same time. There's a lot of complexity, yet it is also really open and straightforward in style. With its light, acid-driven and fruit-driven style, this is a real antithesis to the "normal" Californian style, which only makes it even more fascinating. Super lovely, I just can't stop diggin' this stuff. Highly recommended.
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7/18/2014 - Blauweiss Likes this wine: 86 Points
Quite light at first, grew with air. Fruity with a earthy tone, low alcohol but still decent backbone. This is young, and after 1-2hours it got more interresting. Drink now- 2 years.
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