retaste of Pacific Black Iris
Appearance - inky purple
Nose - good wild cherry dominant
Tannin - good
Acid- good
Flavour - good, rich dark dry fruit wine which will age. Has a bottle of Bols cherry liqueur in it which is noticeable and gives it a really nice finish. This is balanced and tasty, maybe slightly sweet but not by much.
retaste:
Regent 2023
Appearance - inky purple
Smell - good nose, cocoa, black cherries, prunes
Tannin - good
Acid - good
Flavour - this is not "very good" or "excellent" but it is certainly "good" with an interesting aftertaste which is totally different than the Marechal Foch described above. It tastes like it needs to age to soften and become more complex. This year when I make it I'll leave it alone in storage for at least 2 years to see how it ages. Im trying to create very good Regent and maybe I can. So the message is to leave this wine alone to age in a cooler at 57 degrees Fahrenheit.
Hope you have fantastic luck with your wines.
Namaste
Klaus
Dineen Vineyard Pinnacle of Verdot 2023
I had 3 small carboys (15 bottles each) of Washington Dineen Vineyard Petit Verdot and Cabernet Sauvignon fermented with RC212 hand destemmed and uncrushed with nutrient containing B vitamins for 12 days followed by malolactic fermentation and oaking with medium toast American oak cubes to 14.0% alcohol. The grapes were in boxes in perfect condition.. My son in law made the same wine but used more oak than I did. We racked all of the wines off of tartrate sediment and raised the total sulphite level from 45 to ~65 parts per million (guessing free sulphite at ~22 ppm). The Petit Verdot and Cabernet Sauvignon ("Pinnacle") were blended 50/50 and tasted. My son in law who has never tasted Petit Verdot said he thought the blend was sensational and that the Verdot gave the wine a beautiful, complex smell and a long, wonderful finish. So he got ~150 bottles of the blend oaked his way and I got 90 oaked my way. He then took 60 of his 150 and re-blended it 80 (Verdot blend)/20 (petite sirah blend) of Mettler Petite Sirah 2021 (74% Petite Sirah and 26% Regent (homegrown) 2/3 with Marechal Foch (homegrown) 1/3. I made 15 of this blend "Petite Pinnacle of Verdot" 2021, 2023. He made 60. This is my wife's primo red wine. This is rich, complex and tasty with a long finish and a really good smell. Finally I saved about 8 bottles of the Petite Sirah 2/3 Marechal Foch 1/3 blend which is very intense and much better IMHO than the Petite Sirah on its own since the alcohol level is ~14.5% instead of 15.5%. We have one carboy (30 bottles) of Lodi Mettler Vineyard Petite Sirah 2021 left which we will blend with this year's homegrown Marechal Foch to drop its alcohol and improve its alcohol, acid level and complexity.
If you can get Petit Verdot I suggest that you try it. My son in law says that the Verdot wines that we just blended are the best we have made since 2009 (Washington Cabernet Sauvignon Syrah). I agree. We'll leave our wines in our walk in cooler until Xmas-New Years 2024 and then bottle them to age for at least 5 years, maybe even 10.
Good luck with your wines.
retaste:
Appearance - inky purple
Smell - good complex nose - hard to describe on a wine just removed from a cooler but I will try - cocoa, plums, blackberries, cherries, oak
Tannin - very good
Acid - good
Flavour - this is really good and has the potential to be excellent. The finish is really long and really good. This should last for at least 5-7 years in the bottle.
Bottom line - I've said this before - look for dead ripe Petit Verdot
Enter your email address to join: