Two More Red Wines

There were two other red wines from the 2010 vintage released this past Saturday at the Kinkead Ridge Winery.

There was Petit Verdot  for this vintage, something that doesn't always happen, the last time being 2007.  The best way to describe the color is "black."  This is a dark, highly extracted wine with loads of black fruit and even more loads of tannin.  Good fruity aromas of blackberries and earth, almost jam like in the nose.  That sensation of jam carried over into the taste as well.  To be fair, this wine hasn't totally come together in the bottle yet, but when it does it promises to be a mouth full.  The 2005 is delicious at the moment and this wine should come along and in five years or more should be wonderful.  15.5% alcohol  $21.99.  63 cases psroduced.

That leaves the Cabernet Franc pictured above from a previous vintage.  This is usually the most forward of the Kinkead Ridge red wines and this year is no exception.   There's a brighter color to this wine and the shades are more red than purple.  Fresh aromas of red cherries and a bit of red currants in the nose.  There's some vanilla from the oak as well.  Bright, cheerful flavors of those red fruits are supported by a good structure of acid and tannin.  It has the sweetest taste of any of the red wines, almost candy like on the first couple of sips.  There's a tiny bit of heat at the finish.  This wine will be gone by the time the Petit Verdot is ready to drink.  15.3% alcohol.  180 cases produced.  $19.99.

There is good news on the 2012 vintage as well.  The hot, dry summer has been more than kind to the grapes and the promise is there for some tremendous wines in a couple of years.  As of this morning the torrential rains predicted for this area as the result of Hurricane Isaac have yet to show.  For grapes in this area we've reached the time of year where the rain isn't such a good thing.