Broken Earth Reds (4)

Broken Earth Reds 4-Pack
$99.99 $212.00 53% off List Price
2010 Broken Earth Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, Paso Robles
2010 Broken Earth Reserve Petit Verdot, Paso Robles

[winenotes]
In an extraordinary piece of luck, we actually found these wines at a local facility. Here are my notes:

We had a bottle of the 2010 Broken Earth Reserve Petit Verdot with dinner a few nights ago. In the glass, it’s a beautiful deep dark red, with an aroma of dark fruits, black raspberries, blackberries, black currants, and maybe a hint of leather. No noticeable heat.

On the palate, more of the same; a bit closed at first, but it opened up nicely within a half hour, and continued to improve as we finished the bottle over the next hour or so. Tannins were well integrated, and despite the use of 100% new French oak, according to the label, I didn’t get any sensation of heavy oak treatment.

With our favorite stovetop roast pork recipe, it was a real hit. I think this is a more versatile wine than I anticipated from a grape that is mostly used for blending. Kudos to winemaker Chris Cameron for deciding to release this as a varietal wine.

We enjoyed a bottle of the 2010 Broken Earth Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon with a grilled rib-eye steak last night. (Yes, Sparky, it’s December, and we’re grilling in Buffalo.) I opened it about an hour before dinner, and it had opened up in time to provide the perfect accompaniment. A bit lighter in color and body than the Petit Verdot we had the other night from the same winery, this is a classic Cabernet, a surprise given my previous experience with Paso Robles Cabs that tended to be high alcohol fruit bombs. This was anything but, a delightful example of a wine with moderate alcohol and all the berry and red currant flavors I look for in a Cab. An hour after the wine was gone, there were still wonderful aromas in the glass.

[winenotes]

Had a chance to taste both of these wines recently.

2010 Cabernet Reserve, Paso Robles
In the glass the colour was slightly bricked. Peppery and plummy nose. Palate had nice structure with enough acid to balance out the dominant cranberry fruit (i.e. this is not your overdone Paso fruit bomb). I thought I detected hints of bell pepper/pyrazine a few times, which for me is a huge plus. The texture was nice and round and the finish was a solid medium length. I (and a couple others) thought the mid-palate was somewhat lacking.

2010 Petit Verdot Reserve, Paso Robles
Most of the table preferred this to the Cabernet. The wine was, of course, very dark in the glass. Rigght after opening the nose was muted and mostly suggested cracked pepper. Not much fruit up front, either on the nose or palate.

Turns out this needed some air, is all. This got significantly nicer with aromas of cherry and plum adding themselves to the peppery nose. Plenty of tannin framed the rest of the wine quite nicely as well.

I wish more Paso Robles wineries made their wines this way!

If you like bigger wines but not fruit bombs (e.g. Ty Caton, Armida, etc) then this may be for you. These are both well balanced between acid, fruit, tannin, and alcohol.

Thanks for the notes guys!
I like the bottle design, I like the specs, I don’t like the per bottle price.

[winenotes]

The Monkey left me a early Christmas present last week. Broken Earth Reserve Cab.
Looking at what reviews I could find they mentioned ….
“Aromas of dust and stewed plums give a pleasing entry, but once sipped the wine tastes like it needs more time to mature. The flavors approach strawberry and other red fruits, but remain quite tart and tannic.”
Priced at $48 on their web site and mention various awards including a Gold medal in S.F. this year.
Opened and let sit about 2 hours. 1st pour had excellent color, a deep purple, nice aroma and decent legs.
1st taste was a little dry but much sweeter than most Cab’s. had the wife a Merlot drinker taste and she too thought it was sweet,” not like a Cab” was her response.
The review mentioned Strawberries and red fruits, I must agree, I would go more Cherry than anything else.
Over time this wine mellowed and got more robust (If that’s possible) but still sweet to the taste.
I would put this at maybe $25-$30 without seeing the Woot price (my review was written Sunday night as the wife and I have tickets for a 9:30 am showing at the Imax of “Star Wars”)
Not a bad wine by any means. Just sweeter that I like.
I think most Wine Wooters will like this wine if the price point is right.
Me??? It’s a pass as #1 I’m in overstock mode and like I said earlier a little sweet for me.
Merry Christmas/Happy Hanukkah to all my Wine Wooting Friends.
Edited for the grammar police

The winery price is pretty hefty, to be sure, but this wine.woot price is very reasonable for a wine of this quality, IMO.

I’d be interested in the RS numbers on this wine, which aren’t shown in the specs. I got a sensation of sweetness, as well, but wound up concluding that my palate was being misled by the bright fruit flavors.

Your palate is like mine it is a bit on the sweet side

Hi, I’ve just spoken with Chris, our winemaker, and the R.S. is 3 g/L or 3%. Also of note is that our vineyard produces Cabernet’s with a slightly higher glycerol content.Glycerol contributes slightly to the perception of wine sweetness and smoothness.

Thanks for joining us, how are you connected to the winery?

Hi, I’ve just spoken with Chris, our winemaker, and the R.S. is 3 g/L or 3%. Also of note is that our vineyard produces Cabernet’s with a higher glycerol content.Glycerol contributes slightly to the perception of wine sweetness and smoothness.

Well don’t judge me but I’m married to the winemaker :slight_smile:

Official title is Sales and Marketing Manager.

[winenotes]
We had the chance to taste the 2010 Broken Earth Reserve Petit Verdot, Paso Robles at 13.5% alcohol and the 2010 Broken Earth Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, Paso Robles at 13.8% alcohol. I really liked them both.

We tasted the Petit Verdot first. ddeuddeg and I were intrigued to have the opportunity to taste a Petit Verdot. Most frequently, Petit Verdot is used as one of the blending grapes in Bordeaux style wines. It is rarely used as a stand-alone wine. We opened the bottle to allow it to breathe for about a half hour before tasting.

I found it to be a full-bodied wine with aromas of deep, dark fruits: blackberries, cassis, tobacco—maybe some molasses with some nice oak coming through—not the splinter variety, but nicely integrated into the wine.

In color, this wine is a very deep, dark red, almost black. This is what helps to add the darker, deeper colors to a Bordeaux wine.

The flavors were bright flavors of dark fruits with some tobacco, cedar and some light oak. It paired surprisingly well with our leftover dinner of Stove-top Roasted Pork Loin browned in olive oil and butter and cooked with peppercorns, bay leaves and red wine vinegar, along with mashed potatoes and chives, carrots and sautéed apples with brown sugar. As dinner progressed, the wine mellowed more and more. This is a very pleasant and enjoyable wine to drink. I am so happy that we had a chance to try it out! I pegged it on the price point at the winery. This is a nice price for this really well-made wine.

Sunday evening we tried the 2010 Broken Earth Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, Paso Robles at 13.8% alcohol. We let it open for a bit—about a half hour before tasting. My notes for this wine will be brief as my head totally filled up and breathing was not easy. :frowning: However, I was able to get a full-bodied nose upon first sniff. Unfortunately, I can’t say what aromas were, but they were plenty. My taste buds went a bit south, too. :relaxed: However, I was able to tell that this is a full-bodied wine with a very nice mouth-feel. It opened up as the evening progressed and left a wonderful aroma in the bottom of the glass long after the wine was gone.

I think that both of these wines are wines that have the potential for some aging. I would like to hear what the winery has to say about aging. Both of these wines have a higher price point that some like to pay, but I think that they are worth it. I hope that people’s wallets aren’t too empty at this time of year.

Hi, Chris’ wines age exceptionally well. These Reserve wines,although drinking well now, will certainly reward those with patience to put them away in their cellar.

Any thoughts on the drinking window on these. Are these a 10 year wine, 15, 20?

I would say 15 years at least.

Fred, the location of that (s) can change your sentence from Wine Wooter swill to Wine Wooters will…

Like Thought of that, also! :tongue:

perhaps he enjoyed that bottle more than he thought?