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Wine Details
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Description:
This wine is 100 percent old-vine [100-plus years old which fits the definition of “old” in most books] mourvèdre from the singular sandscape of Oakley, CA in Contra Costa County.
We have made OT roughly every other year since 1986 when the Bonny ship Le Cigare Volant® did not commandeer the entire ration of mourvèdre. We think this is perhaps the paradigmatic Bonny Doon wine – it is not hellaciously tannic, jet black, or syrupy in the Antipodean paradigm. It is very rich, fragrant, earthy, fruitful [blackberries, stewed plums], persistent, immensely complex and perfectly balanced. There is some debate about what allows a wine to age and improve with extended, quiet repose in someone’s cellar or mudroom closet. Some would suggest it is high acidity, or low pH or robust tannin levels or pure concentration. We tend to think it is balance or harmony and a good dose of minerality. It is not clear from whence the minerality derives in grapes grown in pure sand, but there you have it. Perhaps the answer to the perennial poser one considers while meditating on this appellation – What’s in the water? – can reveal more about the potential for vinous immortality than the sui generis nature of its great grape growers. We would suspect that this wine, if stored properly will continue to improve for 10 to 15 years.
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