Son of A Butcher Wine, Really?

Attention adventurous wine drinkers looking for a truly exciting, unusual California red.

And sorry, Menage a Trois cranked out in large volume is clearly not in mind.

We are talking about a wine that is cutting edge.

The wine recently discovered  at www.invino.com  is…

2014 Y. Rousseau ‘Son of a Butcher’ Red, $15.99

It is made from Tannat blended with Merlot and Cabernet. The grapes came from hillside vineyards in Napa and Sonoma.

Not long ago, I met Yves Rousseau, the winemaker, at a tasting, sampled his wines, and was blown away by the quality and authenticity.

He also produces a varietal Tannat.

Q. What is Tannat, you ask?

A. It is a full-flavored red that is the pride of Madiran in Southwestern France and of every ( or so it seems) winery in Uruguay.

It is the “national pride” of Uruguay. Good to know if you are a trivia buff.

Randall G. at Bonny Doon has explored this unsung variety. Pine Ridge made several red blends named Onyx, and the 2002, 2003 relied heavily on Tannat.

And btw, both these older vintages were wonderful when I pulled the corks last year.

Akin Estates, a small winery in Lodi makes a Tannat and here’s what winemaker David Akin has to say:

Tannat, we say?  Think of a black skinned grape that produces a red wine with the body and muscle of a Cabernet Sauvignon, but without the green herby, bell peppery qualities often associated with cabernets.  Or a red wine with the zippy blackberry/raspberry fruitiness of a good Zinfandel, but without the raisiny sweet tones often found in bigger zins.

 

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Author: robywine, norm roby

My career as a wine journalist/critic began in 1975 when my article about California Petite Sirah was published. My focus remained on California as I edited a monthly wine magazine and then moved on to The Wine Spectator in 1982. Over the following years, my column appeared under the banner of “Stormin’ Norman, and I also wrote articles about wine collectors and wine auctions. Without getting into a year by year bio, let me try to summarize here. During my time with The Spectator which I enjoyed immensely, I taught wine classes at a culinary school and at other venues in San Francisco. Before venturing into wine, teaching was my thing, English Lit and Rhetoric. After The Spectator I was the U.S. Contributor to Decanter Magazine, writing mostly about California, but also expanding into Washington State and Oregon. My Decanter years began in 1992 and after buying a summer home in France in 2000, I traveled throughout France and eventually published articles about St. Emilion, Castillon, Bergerac, Minervois, Roussillon, Luberon, Provence, and Alsace. Also, around 2000, my wife began working for Cousino-Macul in Chile, so we tasted and traveled our way through Chile and, of course, managed to fly over the Andes and explore and taste our way through Argentina. As travel lovers, we have also spent many interesting days visiting the wine regions of Spain, Italy, Portugal, Scicily, Greece, and New Zealand. And to come to a close, I was Director of Winesong, a Charity Wine Auction for 20 years, 1992-2000 that benefitted a local hospital. That brought me in contact with wine collectors and to the auction scene. And finally, I co-authored a book, The Connoisseurs’ Guide to California Wine published by Alfred A. Knopf. It went through 4 editions and sold over 500.000 copies.

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