2008 Super Tuscan Report

I opened a bottle of the 2008 Super Tuscan and I wanted to report that it is FINALLY drinking well! 

 

It has been an interesting wine to watch evolve. First the Sangio dominated and the wine was very tart (from the under-ripe Sangio). Then it came back into balance for a little while before the Cabernet and Petit Verdot dominated and the wine was tannic. And now it's back to a nice balance and tastes like the blend we put together.   I remember the previous Super Tuscan blend behaved similarly where the Petit Verdot and Cab dominated for the first year before the wine balanced out.  An interesting pattern.

 

If you have any of the 08 Super Tuscan pushed to the back of your closet, bring it out and enjoy it!

 

Troy

 

PS: The blend was 56% Sangio, 32% Cab, 8% Merlot and 4% Petit Verdot.

 

 

 

08 Idaho Cab Report

I opened a bottle of our 2008 Idaho (Williamson) Cabernet, to see how it's developing for Christmas.

 

One word: BIG!

 

It's got loads of wood tannins and good cab fruit. The flavors are dominated by wood right now but it will age well.  In the meantime, if you open one, make sure to have it with a juicy steak!

 

I think the wine would have been better without as much wood on it.   We should keep an eye on this year's cab to make sure it doesn't get over oaked.  Last year we bottled on May 2nd.  We should look at bottling earlier, maybe in March?

 

Troy

Porto Reporto

I opened a bottle of our 2009 Porto to see if it was ready for the Thanksgiving holiday, and wanted to share a quick report.

 

The wine drank fine after being opened but had a slight "off smell" in the bouquet.  After 45-60 minutes the depth of flavors opened up considerably and the nose was good.  There was a significant amount of sediment in the bottom of the bottle, enough to warrant having bottles standing upright for several days (or longer) before opening the wine.

 

Cheers!

 

Troy

2005 Cab Reserve

We opened a bottle of our 2005 Williamson Reserve Cabernet last night to celebrate the conclusion of Cheryl's Birthday Week.

 

Wow! What a great bottle of Cabernet!  It really improved with some time in the bottle. Went great with our NY Steaks.  I'm sooo sad that I only have 1 more left. It's a good motivation to try and hold some bottles of our Cabernet Reserve a few years, which should be easier with the 5+ cases of 08 reserve coming our way soon!  Yum!

 

Troy

 

'08 Magnafique

Riverswood Winery Winemakers:

Troy graciously gifted a bottle of your '08 Magnafique to us a couple
weeks ago and encouraged us to share our impressions of the wine.
Unfortunately, despite strong encouragement from the vintner to taste the
wine sooner rather than later, it has taken us until this past weekend to
enjoy it.

My response to the first mouthful was, "Wow!" I immediately noticed a
softness in the wine that many young commercial wines don't have. For
example, young Cabernet's are noted for being hard. Other young wines are
noted for being "hot." The Magnafique we tried was neither of these.

I also responded "Wow!" because of the fullness of the wine. I felt all
areas of my mouth were part of the experience: front and back of tongue,
inside cheeks, roof of mouth, etc. Some wines are concentrated in terms of
where they hit the pallet. This wine was like setting off a "fun mine" in
my mouth. It was very pleasant, rounded and an overall wonderful first
impression.

Finally, I will admit enjoying about one-third of the wine the first
evening. I then let the wine sit on the shelf two nights. I did not
evacuate the airspace in the bottle. Tonight I enjoyed the rest of the
bottle. In that time the wine held its own and was still very enjoyable.

The '08 Magnafique was smooth and rounded. In a very positive way it
lacked some of the characteristics of younger wines, thereby letting more of
the fruitiness through. The wine has a very nice and rounded nose to it.
We very much enjoyed the bottle. Thank you for sharing! You 'dun very
good!

-- Bruce & Christie Mayes

Magnafique Vertical

A cousin was in town last week and came by for dinner. We had a 06 and 07 Magnafique along with a sesame steak for dinner. Both the 06 and 07 are drinking very well, with the edge going to the 06. I liked the cab flavors in the 06 better and it made me anticipate the 09 Magnafique that will be more cabernet with some Cabernet Franc.

 

Tonight I opened an 08 Magnafique to see how it is coming along--and it drank beautifully!  The darkest of the 3 in color--very well made and balanced. A lovely nose. Loads of fruit with some herbaceousness, a full mouth-feel and a nice lingering finish. I'm certainly proud of how the blend turned out!

 

(Chest Thumping) We make good wine!

 

Troy

Super Tuscan Report

Hi All,

 

Wanted to pass along kudos from 2 people at work that I shared the Super Tuscan wine with. They both drink a lot of Italian wines and gave our Fantastico! 2 thumbs up the weekend after it was bottled.

 

Also wanted to report that I opened a bottle to have with a pasta bolognese last night. I think the wine is shutting down--maybe going into bottle shock. The balance of flavors was missing. The wine was dominated by the tart cherries of the Sangio. Even after a couple of hours.

 

Troy