Santa Barbara Winemakers.
Bridlewood. 2004, Arabesque, Central Coast, 39.92% grenache, 26.96% mourvedre, 17.91% cinsault, 11.21% syrah, 4% viognier. 13.8% alc. (100% Sunnybrook Vineyard, Paso Robles.)
The beauty of Santa Barbara is the choice of Rhones we get here, the other aspect is the opportunity for more advanced thinkers to create Chateauneuf-style blends. Beckmen's Cuvee le Bec and Zaca Mesa's Z-Cuvee (soon to be reviewed) spring to mind immediately. Not to be confused with California Meritages (rhymes with heritage, remember), the Rhone blends have a life of their own. They stand up in a way that one of the definitions of arabesque best describes, ballet movement. Graceful, delicate, finely balanced (look at the above percentages to get an idea), delightful. It's like describing pinot in its feminine form but then you add class, breeding, style and a measure of je ne sais quois but you know it when you see it essence of elegance and the image starts to make sense.
To compare against the aforementioned two, this wine doesn't have the visual clarity found in both cuvee, nor the vibrant redness of the Z. This is like a glass of blood redness, the kind of opacity like a breaking wave from a blue mediteranean sea, when a quarter of an 18 ounce glass is used. There's almost a full forest fruit flavour, where even the forest can be tasted. The sunlight dappling through the fresh lush foliage, a backdrop for the blossoms (is this the spirit from the oak itself or from the clearings where one might find cinsault?), a pathway rarely used shows signs of moss without footprints, virgin soil and the smell of earth after the rain. If ever a blend was more suited to make the fullest use of viognier, I don't know where else it is best tended to. On its own it transforms from honeysuckle to banana, tropical of course but not consistent, in such flavour extremities anyway. There are some good viogniers around at the moment, free basing viognier and good viognier is good practice to get an idea of the floral arrangement as if designed by a 17th century noble garden with all its maze-like arabesque layouts. Think Hampton Court laid out by Henry the VIII, but then take Henry and compare him to a Turkish pasha, now he transforms into Suleiman the Magnificent and again we find our arabesques translated into tiles accenting archways and water gardens. These now are the flowers from the viognier notes, instead of smelling the flower close-up now you see the rose gardens from a distance (zooming out, if you will). Occasional wafts from other flowers in bloom carry through the pathways.
The syrah finds its way through the forest and settles amid the blackberry brambles, a sticky treat for those entering or leaving the forest. It does seem to offer a taste of history. The same can be said for the colour, visually it gives the impression of being aged which reminded me of some Chateau '03 I had with a local winemaker. It intrigued me then as it does now, it's like your first taste of cranberry juice, your first pomegranite, especially the colour of their juice.
Definitely a food wine. By itself it has a good jovial tanin, that invites and encourages a picnic. The first taste inspires thought, I gave it a day in the decanter, a grape from the counter if you will before deciding which bunch to buy. 24 hours later it gave off such enticing grenache that impatience didn't give the rest a chance to breathe, so the bottle went quickly and now after roast chicken over spinach with a potato salad, warm crusty bread with olive oil to dip and dried cranberries conservatively scattered within, you get the idea of a picnic. A whicker basket to carry the utensils and sundry side dishes of dates, figs, pickled chanterelles, cured meats thinly sliced to melt in your mouth. You know deep down there will be bugs and insects but know too to expect butterflies in the glades and dragonflies at the pond. This is where mourvedre sweeps in and at once can be a Spanish sword in full bloom in the chapparal or a lotus as seen from a bridge in a Chinese water garden.
This wine is in need of more time to let all the horses cross the finishing line, I'm thinking now maybe 48 or even 72 hours before consuming again. There, I've bought four bottles of this, before I even know whether I want more. It seems I have finshed the bottle. And now the mustard and cheese croutons beckon, the picnic continues, bring more wine next time. On the Cote Rotie four bottles do not a picnic make, that is barely a sip when so many turn up for the open invitation. Plan for a cooling dip in the river as well, especially the clumsy rowers.
Cheers
July 1. 2006
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