2013 Killer Cluster Clement's Resistance GSM
| Vintage: | 2013 |
| Varietal Composition: | |
| 36% | Grenache |
| 33% | Mourvedre |
| 23% | Syrah |
| 6% | Cabernet Sauvignon |
| 1% | Cinsault |
| Harvest Date: | October 21-30, 2013 |
| Sugar: | 27.5 avg brix |
| Acid: | 6.15 g/l |
| PH: | 3.99 |
| Aging: | Virginia Oak - 10 months |
| Barrel Aging: | |
| 10 Months | |
| 36% | Stainless Steel |
| 30% | Third use Virginia Oak |
| 20% | Second use Virginia Oak |
| 14% | New Virginia Oak |
| Ageability: | 2020-2022 |
| Fermentation: | Stainless Steel (10%) and One ton open top fermenters (90%) |
| Bottling Date: | August 2014 |
| Residual Sugar: | 0 |
| Alcohol %: | 15.0 |
Every time I taste this wine I like it more and more. At first I was perplexed but then the wine has morphed into this powerhouse of fruit with some underlying animal and smoke notes. The Syrah shows some classic savory charcourterie tones while the Mourvedre has some of its telltale leather style notes. That all wrapped around licorice, plum, raisin and vanilla notes, this wine is complex and exciting. This certainly has some time to continue to shed some baby fat and will likely be at its best around 2020.
The fruit for this wine all came from a vineyard in the Walla Walla Valley in Washington State. Being a Rhone fanatic our winemaker Jordan was very excited about the opportunity to work with these incredible grape as neither variety is as well suited to our sites. We worked hard to source the fruit from on the top vineyards we could find on the West Coast and believed that Walla Walla was simply the best place for these great Rhone varieties. The soils for Walla Walla are largely wind swept loam soils. Climatically the vineyards tend to have some of the highest diurnal temperature swings in Washington allowing very hot days to ripen flavors and sugars while the cool to cold nights preserves freshness and acidity. The wine tend to have incredible concentration of fruit showing great varietal character while maintaining a youthful freshness not always associated with its top varieties.
This was a very fun wine to make. Half of the Mourvedre, Grenache and Syrah were fermented whole cluster to get added structure and character from the also ripe stems. That combined with the bright fruit of the fully destemmed but whole berry portion created a fabulous harmony of fruit and structure. The grapes (other than the Cab and Cinsault) were fermented in small lot one ton bins and punched down 2-3 times per day. The Cab and Cinsault was done in stainless steel with pulse air occurring twice daily. All the fruit was allowed an 8 day cold soak except the Mourvedre which was inoculated immediately to showcase more fruit over some of the classic animal notes of the variety. The wines spent anywhere from 10-36 days on the skins prior to being pressed. The Mourvedre spent its elevage in tank to allow it to be more youthful with vibrant fruit while the remainder spent 10 months in barrels of varying age. The wine was assembled and filtered in July 2014 before being bottled in August 2014.
No need to mess around too much. This is a wine that would be great with some Steak and Frites. Simply marinate some skirt steak in olive oil and garlic, grill it and serve it with some Yukon Gold frites. It you are looking to get fancy just sprinkle with some truffle salt.
462 cases