Bench by Brack Mountain Mixed Red (6)

Bench by Brack Mountain Mixed Red 6-Pack
$89.99 $160.00 44% off List Price
2013 Bench Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast
2013 Cabernet Sauvignon, Alexander Valley
2013 Merlot, Knight’s Valley, Sonoma County
CT links above

Winery website

[winenotes]

A Woot Monkey dropped off two bottles on Friday, enough time to drop them off at one (one mind you!) of my wine lockers to chill down for today. Today was the day the family finally got together to celebrate my month-old birthday, along with my niece-in-law, and my 92 year old mother. The main reason for the delay was also present, 3 week old great nephew EVH, looking cute as ever.

Sorry for the delay in posting notes tonight, but it was a drive back home. Plus it’s trash night, so had to get the trash and recycle out.

Received a bottle of the 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon, Alexander Valley and the 2013 Merlot, Knight’s Valley, Sonoma County.

Tasters included the younger crowd (20s and 30s). Sadly, I forgot to ask my sister what she thought, or at least missed what she said!

Most of the younger ones are tasting more, and are getting more experienced. Sadly, due to the 2012 RPM Advanced Tour, with it’s sublime Cabernet, it’s hard for me to accept lesser Cabs! :wink:

Saved some of each, and will try them again tomorrow.

Opened both wines, but did not decant. The Cab was left alone for an hour in the bottle, while the Merlot was PNP.

Appearance of both wines: The wines were clear and free of sediment. Both were a nice deep ruby-red.

Nose: Initially, the nose was quite closed on both.

Merlot: Tough to pick out much other than Cherry notes, although I might have been a little congested. Some Cedar notes as well.

After opening for a while, there was more fruit on the nose.

Cab: Some spiciness on the nose.

Taste:

Merlot: All the younger group liked this one. Smooth from one, and Light on the finish from another.

Cab: Some spiciness; comments ranged from Ok to Good. Somewhat thin, and not full bodied.

But a good price range for both wines.

To be honest, the fruit flavors in the nose and on the palate were underwhelming for me in both wines. But I’ve gotten used to Merlots from Ty Caton and Pedroncelli (Upper Bench Merlots) and Cabs from Corison, etc.

The price range would seem fine for adding to your cellar, and all the younger group did like them. Plus, I’ve got way too much wine I already need to drink up!

Do we have any winery participation today? I’m curious about the cellar-ability of the wines, especially the Cab’s.

Thanks for the notes sparky, any notes on the PN from anyone?

Good morning everyone. My name is John Harley. I’m the Winemaker for Brack Mountain. I would be happy to answer any questions you may have.

Hi. These wines are excellent cellar wines. Particularly the Cab’s. We try hard to echo our Old World neighbors, so you will find our Cab’s have a nice acid core along with rich tannin. Both of which make a wine great to cellar age.

at least the monkey knew enough to not waste a PN on sparky.

Hi. The 2013 vintage was arguably one of the best vintages for Sonoma County Pinot in decades. Great acid with huge depth of flavors were easy to obtain. I find the Bench Sonoma Coast Pinot a perfect example of the true AVA. Cranberry, Dried tea, spice (think allspice or “fall spices”) with great texture and mouth watering acid. More fruit and spice then oak.

A little birdy told the monkey earlier. :tongue:

Help! CT is on the list of ship-to-able states but its giving me the “we can’t ship to your state” error when I try to check out.

How can you be a wine enthusiast and not like PN? I reject this idea completely!

Welcome John, thanks for joining us today.

I’m not seeing CT on the list for this offer. Can you point me to where you’re looking?

It looks like the list has been adjusted; its much shorter now than it was this morning. Oh well, no Bench wine for me :frowning:

did mudman go white hat?

EDIT: no GA :frowning:

I was wondering about that myself. I hated that cucaracha then, and I still hate it.