First off – This is like most previous Woot Cellars offerings – meaning you should plan to put it away for at least 6 months before you even think about opening it.
Second – If you can’t resist – make SUPER SURE you have a decanter available! Otherwise, you will be sorely disappointed. While this wine is a Woot Cellars blend, remember that it is comprised of Wellington components. It may not be a “blend for the ages”, but it certainly has the structure to lay down for a couple of years.
On a pop & pour, this wine tastes rather flat. That’s because it is incredibly tight right now. It will need at least 30 minutes in a decanter to begin to loosen. If you can give it 1+ hours in the decanter, you will be rewarded!
These are my impressions of the wine after more than an hour in decanter:
Nose has both floral and spice elements. I’m terribly with floral descriptors – hopefully someone else will post those. I also get allspice &/or nutmeg on the nose.
The palate is full. It has the “plush” feel from the Cab Franc, but structure from the other grapes – especially the Cab Sauv and Petit Verdot. Red berries – maybe some cranberry in there with the usual raspberry/blackberry flavors. There are also some subtle herbal notes – maybe a little marjoram as a top note.
As one of the proud parents of this wine, I’m thrilled with the way it turned out. Approachable and definitely food friendly. Maybe not a wine for the ages, but hopefully a wine for the next couple of years – because that’s how long I plan to cellar! :happy:
Like several others, I’ve had a couple opportunities to taste this. Right now it really need 3+ hours in a decanter to really show itself. If you buy it, plan on leaving it for at least a year or two before opening.
Right now it’s primarily fruit, with the more spicy, savoury, and tannic notes taking a back seat and/or needing time with air to come out.
Only question is 1, 2, or 3 sets?
Is this where we cue the debate over the Tourists’ preferred blends?
took out a 3/4 filled bottle from the fridge tonight. let it warm a little (not a lot) and thoroughly enjoyed it. for now, make sure it’s cellar temperature or better.
it was an honor to be a part of this. and a lot of fun.
I’d be inclined to decant one to two hours ahead. I opened a bottle four hours ago in preparation for this evening. Although it is very young, it has filled out some and softened in the few weeks since I wrote the notes used in the “features” tab. The texture is developing some suppleness already and it has good length of finish for a young wine. I just went back to a partial glass two hours after pouring (4 hours after opening) and the aromas are quite fresh and distinct, dominated by blueberry, cassis (blackcurrant) and violets. The finish is still youthfully tannic, and if you’re going to drink this young it will pair best with protein rich meals.
BTW, I think this wine can age well and develop for quite a few years if you’re so inclined.
An autobuy for me, and I had nothing to do with this mysterious RPM tour.
1, Wellington
2, Woot Cellars
3, About $20 per bottle for a custom created wine created by the tastebuds of trusted taste-testers
After the wine-filled chocolates and now this, I’m concerned that my bank balance will be depleted before I even get to start my holiday shopping…
We tasted it on Saturday at the latest SoCal WW Gathering.
30 minutes was definitely not long enough, but it was still good after 4+ hours in the decanter (we used 2 decanters, plus left one in the bottle without the cork).
Leaving it in the bottle by itself it slowed the aeration, so after 3 hours it was tasting like 30 minutes in the decanter.
Haven’t tasted this since the tour but have been anxiously awaiting its arrival. Can’t say enough good things about everyone involved in making this happen - thanks again for all your efforts. In for a case!
The exercise at Wellington went down like this - we split into 2 groups, then the first group went into the lab with 16 wooters, split further into 4 person teams. Each team went through the blending process to come up with what they felt was an ideal blend. The second group then went in and tweaked the blends that the first group had created, to hopefully come up with even better overall blends.
After the second group was done, we blind tasted all 4 wines and voted on them. There was a tie between the top two wines so we tasted those two again and had another vote to determine the winner.
My +1 and I were in the first group, (teamed up with txmusicman and his +1 Becky) so our blend got revamped by the second group and did not make the final cut but the blend we created before it was altered was very similar to the winning blend available today. As for the wine’s label, let’s just say that it’s what’s inside that counts and leave it at that.
