Mathis Grenache 2007 - 3 Pack

RE the Priorat, impossible to say without tasting it, but I target a pretty Euro style, acidity bright enough to stand up to food, but not overwhelming to the point where you want to drop a Tums in it. The Carignane really gives it a boost – it ripens (flavor ripens) at very low brix in my field, with great zinging acidity. This vintage is 10% CR, varies every year. Carignane is the unsung hero of Sonoma Couty imo. I think it’s better here than anywhere in the world. Alas, so unsexy as to be virtually unsellable. I might make some. Angelli in Cloverdale is the best CR vineyard in the world.

I know! Right? Got a bottle of white to try Thursday and this lovely red to save for tonight. ;o)

Hi folks. I just want to put in my 2 cents’ worth. Mathis wine is the real deal. This is not some yuppie’s lifestyle change or some millionaire’s ego trip. Peter has a wealth of experience and accomplishment at Ravenswood (and as an anonymous consultant for one of w00t’s favorite wineries). As his none too modest motto states, he grows it, he makes it. I’ve seen Peter out in his vineyard late in the evening, tending his vines; this is truly a labor of love. Peter’s style is different than mine (that’s one of the great things about wine), but he has a vision and the experience and means to accomplish that vision.

Aside: for anyone who cares (Richardhod), he’s one of the best petanque players in the United States, and has the gold medals from national tournaments to prove it. He’s both one of my favorite teammates and favorite adversaries.

I’ve got to turn in because there’s a possibility I’ll need to get up in the middle of the night for frost protection duty for the 4th time in 5 nights. I’ll check in tomorrow.

SB

Corked, but no gas (argon or nitrogen)and at room temp. We open them once a day for tasting and take notes, so they get plenty of aeration, only giving up when aldehyde formation overcomes the wine. It’s a fun way to see wines and their evolution. And educational in some way, correlated, but imperfectly to ageability. Many wines taste MUCH better after a day or two, btw, try it.

not to go off topic about your wine, but I love trying new wines, and you made Carignans from Angelli Vinyard sound very appealing to me! any recommendations?

Fermented from native yeasts and all the other good info make this tough to pass up.

About how old are the vines?

As a person who has neither the budget nor space to join in on these deals, I find it extremely annoying when OTHER winemakers chime in about how good the wine is. It’s bad enough when we get interesting, knowledgeable, friendly winemakers to tout their own stuff. Grumble.

Ravenswood, in some years, bottles an Angelli CR. But it’s always a part (or all) of the Sonoma County CR. Abvailable only in the tasting room or in one of the wine clubs. My budwood comes from this vineyard. Honestly, it is the BEST CR, probably in the world. I know that sounds like smoke, but I think it’s true. Why can’t we sell more wines like that??? The modern wine market is fubar. But I think woot is helping :slight_smile:

I have had to let so many good wines slip by simply because I wouldn’t be around to pick them up :(.

Luckily new schedules and what not make all the difference here and I am in for 1.

This sounds like a very pleasing one that I may very well keep for awhile and open at a later date.

I planted the vineyard in in 1999. Check out website at mathiswine.com for alittle more detail, or I’m happy top answer any questions. Thanks for your interest!

If you live in the bay area, swing by Costco and pick up a bottle to try. My local one pretty much always has this for~$20. Actually cheaper there without paying the shipping. Would rat, but I’m out of town.

the British wine market is full of underpriced dreck also, but strangely, some of that is Carignane, from the ubiquitous Chilean Concha Y Toro. Innocuous to the palate. But then I just bought on closeout a few bottles of a charming 03 Tempranillo from Valencia for £4.50 (about $7) at our regional supermarket which is better than most at stocking decent and value European wines. Sadly the mainstream ones apart from Waitrose mostly sell Australian carp and cheap rioja from just a couple of huge producers. EDIT: but oh look, [url=Ravenswood on offer! :wink: but we’d have to ask about which are the top quality drinkers…

A recommendation from Wellington is a recommendation indeed, and I’llhave to consider this very seriously, despite a SIAWBM. Still, for educational purposes, I wonder if you can recommend some good quality/value South Rhone Grenache producers :slight_smile:

Klezman here raves about Wellngton’s Grenache, to the extent that I bought some of it too. I wonder how this compares with that in flavours etc (now that SonomaBouliste has gone someone else might have to chime in).

PS Peter I’m sorry I couldn’t make it up to you there in the end… things just got a bit nuts. That’s the trouble with San Francisco! In summer I hope you’ll have some Boule time!

Unless you like your wines aged already… though half an hour to a hour certainly can help in many cases then too. :smiley:

Actually I’d never really thought about decanting for a DAY or three for good young wines. Unless maybe you should keep them in bottle, not fdecant for a day after pouring out a glass?

Some of them do appear to lose a little complexity after a day, or two, when I have done that. But maybe that’s expectation… or rubbish flabbycabnapa wines :wink: Anyway, a Macrostie 07 Carneros I had a couple of days ago improved on the second day (albeit still far too tight).

Anyway, Thank you for the suggestion!

double grumble.

and you also, welcome back to k1 :slight_smile: I’ll have to get some Priorat recommendations. I hadn’t heard of it before recently on the woot boards.

So, question for you, Peter, or anyone: I’m not yet a Grenache lover. When you get a good one, what is it that makes you love it? What experience do you find in it that you can’t taste or feel in another varietal?

Is this some kind of cipher?

Welcome to wine.woot, Peter.

I would love to make this my next woot. But alas, of that big long list, you don’t ship to NH. Sigh.

I’ll jump in here, since Mr. Mathis has no doubt turned in, and I’m waiting for the “mercury” to drop another degree or so before I turn on the overhead sprinklers and go back to bed.

The biggest differences would be due to location and blend. Peter M and I do have some similarities in our approach and style, such as significant euro influence and disdain for new oak in wines like Grenache. We are only about 4 miles apart, but our sites are very different. Peter’s hillside vineyard is on thinner soil and faces south, while ours is on the valley floor. His ripens earlier, with slightly higher pH (hence the Carignan). I blend with very small bits of Mourvedre and Tempranillo because a) I have them and b) they are traditional Grenache partners in France and Spain. Peter’s use of Carignan and “Petite Sirah” is creative and original, based on his experience, and makes sense.
Describing flavors / aromas in wines is more difficult than describing differences in site and blend, but I’ll take a stab at it, and remember each vintage is different. IMHO, the Wellington Grenache is generally fruitier and fleshier (closer to typical California style, in spite of the bright acid and no obvious oak). Mathis Grenache is a little more masculine - slightly leaner, more structure, less alcohol sweetness. There may be more complexity in the Mathis, possibly due to the blend and to the “native yeast” fermentation. (I prefer the term feral yeast, since the origin of yeast in most uninoculated wines is from “commercial” strains.) The Mathis seems as if it would be more versatile at the table. Both should age pretty well, but only time will tell; 2004 was also our first vintage of bottling a varietal Grenache.
All of the above should be taken with a grain of salt. Both Peter’s and my wines show significant vintage to vintage variation. We both believe in letting the vineyard and the year express themselves; no cookie cutter wines for either of us.

I agree completely (in my very unlearned manner) that successive days, especially day two, are best for many wines I’ve tasted. Since I’m generally a “lone” drinker, all of my bottles last 2 or 3 days, and on some occasions when things come up, more. Do you have any comments on vacuum vs gas vs none at all and leaving out vs refrigeration? Do you always put them away corked at room temperature?

What selection / clone(s) of Grenache do you have?