A little tasting and education on Saturday with Winemaker Matt Taylor and Master Somm Carlton McCoy. The tasting featured Matt’s sold out, hard to find label Chamboulé. These wines are 100% whole cluster and made with very little sulfur.
Carlton walked us through a tasting of Matt’s 3 Cabernets.
1. 2015 Chamboulé Cabernet Sauvignon Constant Vineyard, Diamond Mountain
2. 2016 Chamboulé Cabernet Sauvignon Constant Vineyard, Diamond Mountain
3. 2017 Chamboulé Cabernet Franc Caldwell Vineyard, Coombsville
Even though the alcohol was a little high on the 2015 and 2016 (14.8% & 14.2% respectively), once they opened up they were elegant and silky. Not like you would expect from a Napa Cab — super bold and sometimes hot. Don’t get me wrong, you still get black fruit, spice, herbaceous notes, earth, oak and a small amount of vanilla. Both were great! But for me, the star of the night was Matt’s 2017 Cab Franc (13%). Elegant and silky like its siblings but vibrant with notes of red fruit, spice and herbs. The perfect thing about this wine, it wasn’t too green. You didn’t get smacked in the face with the taste of bell pepper. Which you get in a lot of Cab Francs.
So glad to have a Coravin as my sidekick during this tasting. I can go back and revisit these wines next year. Well let’s be honest, the Cab Franc probably won’t make it the rest of the week.
