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First Stop Tasting through Temecula

Posted January 24th, 2010 by MikeR

This winter has been a bit on the brutal side for the Midwest. My wife and I left Kansas City on Saturday morning when it was zero degrees. Most of us were happy. The weather forecast predicted -15. Fortunately, we were getting on an airplane and heading to Palm Desert for the week. Temperatures in the mid-70’s and sunny skies. Quite a relief from the freezing weather in Kansas City.

Mid-week, we ventured over to Temecula. From Palm Desert there are two or three ways to get there. I chose going over the mountains and then driving up the valley. While it took a bit longer to get there, I found the drive well worth the effort. We even ran into some rain, which was even more interesting given we were in the desert.

When we finally made it into the Temecula wine country, we were not sure what to exect. The first place we stopped was Callaway Wines. Think Big Bertha gofl clubs. (www.callawaywinery.com) This is not the Callaway Central Coast, but a winery that has gone through transition through the last few years and in now privately owned. They are no longer distributed but yu can ship directly from the winery.

My hostess for the tasting, Brenda, continued to warm up to me throughout the tasting. She led me through some selected white wines before heading into the red wines and finishing with the stickies. Some brief notes on my tasting include:

2008 Reserve Viognier – Classic, but light, apricot and honeysuckle on the nose. This is a lighter bodied style Viognier with white and yellow fruits on the palate.
2008 Reserve Calliope – This Roussane and Marsanne blend is subtle on the nose. The light straw colored wine has a mild peach/mango fruit with notes of saddle wood and vanilla.
2005 Reserve Cabernet Franc – This blend of 80% Cabernet Franc, 15% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 5% Merlot has a good plumy purple color. Good nose that you would expect for a Cab Franc, but the wine is at best a mid-bodied red with black cherry, red cherry and even strawberry on the palate. It finishes short with a bit of vanilla.
2007 Reserve Syrah – This medium body, cool weather style Syrah had a pronounced cola and cough syrup nose as Brenda just opened the bottle. As it begin to open up, the nose developed a bit of barnyard aroma. The cherry fruit was faint and the promised white pepper did not immediately materialize. I suspect this bottle should have been decanted before being served.
2005 Reserve Meritage – Again, this cooler style, medium body weight wine displayed red fruits, mint and bell pepper on the nose. The palate developed some good cherry flavors, complimented with some tannin.
2005 Cabernet/Merlot – Good nose with lots of black cherry and plum on the nose. This wine had enough fruit to even seem a little sweet, but I believe it is totally dry. This blend is one of their better wines.
2009 Dry Rose (New Release) – I am always interested in a good dry Rose. This one did not disappoint. The bright strawberry and red cherry on the nose continued straight through to the mid-palate and the finish. This wine had a good acid level. Put it with any picnic.
2008 Muscat – This stickie has a very sweet peach and tangerine nose. However, the palate shows a good acidic balance for a dessert wine.
2008 Late Harvest Chardonnay – Maybe an even better effort in the sweet wine category. This very balanced, intensely flavored wine is in the same league with decent Auslesse Rieslings. Maybe the pick of the stickies.
2008 Late Harvest Cabernet – This intensely blueberry wine just begs for cheesecake. It does gain some with the balanced acidity. I am willing to keep an open mind, but some grapes just should not ever be made into a sweet style.
NV Sweet Nancy – This Chenin Blanc is permeated with a clover honey nosed that continues onto the palate. It is vey well balanced with some mineral notes and spice on the finish. It reminds me of some sweeter style Voveray’s I’ve enjoyed in the past.