2010 GRENACHE | 2009 SYRAH BENCHLAND | 2009 MONTEPULCIANO
2012: The Year of the Chair?
Thanks to Clint Eastwood’s insightful speech at the 2012 Republican Convention, (which was a spot-on impression of Bob Newhart, by the way) people all over the country are talking about chairs. Who knew an inanimate chair could have such a spicy personality?
I, for one, have always ascribed emotional feelings to chairs and other inanimate objects. Whenever I hit my head on a tree, or any other body part on say a chair, fence or wall, I always reprimand (both verbally and physically) the object for inflicting such pain on my body. I feel it is my responsibility to “train” these objects. Anyway, Clint’s embarrassing moment has me thinking of famous chairs. Here are some of my favorites:
Thelonious Monk spinning on a stool while playing piano in the movie Straight No Chaser
Pee Wee Herman’s “Chairy”
Maxwell’s 1980’s advertisements featuring “Blown Away Guy” sitting in his Le Corbusier chair
Herb Alpert’s The Lonely Bull album, leaning back on his chair toasting with Tequila
Rodin’s The Thinker
Basketball coach Bobby Knight throwing a chair across the court during a game in 1985 (Bobby obviously understands me)
Go ahead. Sit on my chair.
2010 GRENACHE
I have always believed that noble grape varieties grown on worthy sites render compelling wine, regardless of the vintage. In fact, this is my “secret” strategy when buying more expensive wines: Find good producers in less than hyped vintages. Our 2010 Grenache would fall into this category.
2010 was one of the coolest growing seasons we have ever had here at Unti. The vintage was so cool that it will surely be labeled something less-than-stellar by the wine pundits, for rendering wines not explosively fruity or rich (read high alcohol). And we say, what is wrong with that?
Most of our 2010 wines show more complex aromas, savory and spicy flavors, with bright acidity. The ’10 Grenache epitomizes this description so much so, that our comparison to wines of Southern Rhone’s Gigondas is most appropriate.
You’ll note the absence of Mourvedre in this year’s model. Mourvedre, which is a late ripening grape here in Dry Creek, almost had no chance in 2010. The resulting wine was a little astringent, and thus we omitted it from the blend. By only using 15% Syrah, we avoided the downside of a cool vintage—harsh tannins—which is why this 2010 Grenache has a nice lush finish.
85% Grenache, 15% Syrah. 640 cases produced.
$28/bottle
Link to Store: CLICK HERE
2009 SYRAH BENCHLAND
Odd Year Vintage for Benchland = Excellent
Dating back to 2003, the odd year vintages in the first decade of the 21st century have been special for our Benchland Syrah. This 2009 closes out the decade with a bang.
Along with Montepulciano, this is the last of the 2009 Unti wines to be released. By now, you’ve heard me extol the virtues of this excellent vintage: Moderate grape set, long cool growing season = outstanding wine with deep color, bright fruit, and solid tannins for solid aging potential.
If the 2009 vintage is characterized by low-to-medium yield, small berries, and a long growing season, it stands to reason our Benchland Syrah is special. We harvested this vineyard on September 29th and October 1st with almost perfect sugar, acid, and flavors. The result is a powerful Syrah with the fruit and balance that will enable this wine to age gracefully for at least 5 to 8 years.
To put the 2009 in context, it is very similar to the 2007 with a tad more fruit and slightly better balance. We bottled about 25 cases of 1.5 liter bottles so you can Benchland “Magnum Style.” It is definitely one of our best vintages.
100% Syrah , 410 cases produced
$35/bottle Magnum $75/bottle
Link to Store: CLICK HERE
2009 MONTEPULCIANO
The first few vintages of our Montepulciano depict the bigger side of this Central Italian grape variety. In 2009, we show the “softer side” of Montepulciano. My first exposure to Montepulciano was drinking a copious amount in a place called Trattoria Micelli in Seattle. I was still in college and it was a lush, drinkable dark red wine for $3.00 a glass, most likely the entry level Montepulciano from Illuminati, which is made in volume. What it might have lacked in complexity, it made up for in sheer drinking pleasure.
Flash forward many years to San Francisco’s A-16 restaurant where I experienced more serious styles from small artisan wineries such as Lanari, Le Terrazze, Moroder, and Oasi Degli Angeli . Here I was able to see a more serious, Cabernet-like wine with licorice, chocolate, cassis, and that quintessential Italian acidity.
Our 2009 Montepulciano would have been made in the same powerful style as appreciated in the aforementioned wines, barring, a mid-October rain storm that dropped 5 inches of rain before the crop fully ripened. In Dry Creek Valley this grape just ripens later than others. We harvested the grapes a week later for posterity’s sake, without much hope for the ensuing wine.
To our surprise the wine turned out just fine. Apparently the thick skins of Montepulciano keep bunch rot from developing, and the wine, while not as structured as previous years has plenty of juicy fruit and classic earth character. It lies somewhere between my two revered styles; medium bodied—while very drinkable and excellent with food.
Just be aware, this wine throws a little sediment.
100% Montepulciano, 250 cases produced
$25/bottle
Link to Store: CLICK HERE
BARBERA
Sadly, our 2010 Barbera is already sold out. As most of you know, we lost 90 percent of our crop in 2010, and 70% in 2011 to various maladies of nature. Thankfully, 2012 yielded a normal crop, and with 6 acres now planted that means a significant increase over any previous vintage of Barbera. In fact, we crushed over 30 tons of Barbera this year, which has us celebrating like the amazing 2012 Oakland A’s after one of their patented “Walk-Off “ victories. So, by 2014 you can share Barbera with all of your friends!
In the meantime, if you would like to reserve our 2011 Barbera please contact us and we will hold it for you, without asking for payment until April when it will be released.
