Blending and Tasting

We successfully grew, picked, destemmed, fermented, pressed, and racked all four of our varietals this year.  By now we have made several blends.

The mourvedre, which was (I think) a little over-ripe, tends to overwhelm the other varietals whenever it is present at greater than 20%.  It has a big, showy nose, too much heat and ripeness in the mouth, and a long, interesting swallow.

The counoise is fascinating to me -- strawberry in color, delicate flowers and strawberry in the nose.  To drink it is bright and tart with spicy red fruit on the palate.  It blends well with everything.

The grenache is just plain delicious and shows keen varietal character.

The sleeper is the syrah.  We thought that we harvested a little early resulting in a sharp taste.  But just decant for four hours and maybe throw in a little counoise or grenache and wow!  Very tasty; maybe my favorite.