![]() ![]() Both of these wines were unique in that they had the lowest alcohol levels in the tasting with only 13.2% while most of the other wines were over 15%. A Cabernet Sauvignon and unknown Red Blend aged 90 days in bourbon barrels. Made by Bruce and Kim Cunningham of AW Direct. ![]() This wine was also unique in that it was from the 2014 vintage while all the other reds (except for the 19 Crimes) were from the 2015 vintage. I did appreciate that this was the only red blend that gave its blend composition with 38% Merlot, 37% Syrah, 11% Zinfandel, 7% Petite Sirah, 4% Cabernet Sauvignon and 3% “other red grapes.” The wine was aged for 90 days and had the highest ABV of all the wines tasted with 17%. Made by Constellation under the helm of Jeff Kasavan, the former director of winemaking for Vendange. This wine is unique in that it only spent 60 days in whiskey barrels (as opposed to bourbon barrels) while most of the other reds spent 90 days. Sweet vanilla and citrus.Īpothic Inferno & Cooper & Thief Apothic Inferno ($13) Caramel and spice with honey and fruit.īulleit - Made now at Four Roses Distillery. It’s kind of like if Buffalo Trace and Maker’s Mark had a baby, this would be it. Two Stars - A wheated Bourbon from Sazerac. A light Bourbon with floral and spice notes. Jim Beam - Old standard from Beam-Suntory. A “fruity sweet” Bourbon with noticeable oak spice. To facilitate that exploration, I poured some examples of “Bourbon Standards” that the tasting panel could smell for reference (and drink after the tasting if needed!). Meanwhile, the Apothic Inferno did scream WHISKEY but it came across more like a painful screech. In the last blind tasting, one of the things that jumped out for me is that the Mondavi Cab and Barrelhouse red didn’t come across as “Whiskey-like” and were drinkable just fine as bold red wines. In this tasting, I wanted to explore how much of the whiskey barrel influence is noticeable in the wine. Rather than funnel that fruit to some of your discount brands like Gallo’s Barefoot, Constellation’s Vendange and The Wine Group’s Almaden, you can put these wines in a whiskey barrel for a couple of months and charge a $5-10 premium–or in the case of Cooper & Thief, $30 a bottle! Trying to Keep An Open Mind Now considering that many of the mega-corporations behind these wines like Gallo (Apothic), Constellation Brands (Mondavi & Cooper & Thief), The Wine Group (Stave & Steel) and Concha y Toro/Fetzer (1000 Stories) process millions of tons of grapes for huge portfolios of brands, this actually makes brilliant business sense.Įven in the very best of vintages, you are always going to have some fruit that is less than stellar–often from massively over-cropped vineyards that aren’t planted in ideal terroir. it’s still a pig.Ī similar sentiment was shared on Facebook from one of my winemaking friends, Alan, who noted that the charcoal from the heavy toast of the bourbon barrels could function as a fining agent for wines with quality issues like bad odors. Not just a marketing gimmick – but a great way to mask the flaws of sub-standard fruit. ![]() On Twitter, wine and lifestyle blogger Duane Pemberton had an interesting take. Why are so many producers jumping on this bandwagon? I tried to find bottles of The Federalist’s Bourbon barrel aged Zinfandel, Jacob’s Creek Double Barrel Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz and 1000 Stories “half batch” Petite Sirah but to no avail. For a twist, I also added the 19 Crimes The Uprising that was aged in rum barrels. I found further examples from Cooper & Thief, 1000 Stories, Big Six Wines, Stave & Steel and Paso Ranches. I got bottles of the Apothic Inferno, Robert Mondavi Cabernet Sauvignon and Barrelhouse Red featured in the last blind tasting as well as new bottlings from Mondavi of a bourbon barrel aged Chardonnay (I’m not kidding) and a Cabernet Sauvignon from Barrelhouse. I decided to investigate a little more with another blind tasting of as many different barrel aged wines that I could find. While I thought this fad would quickly fade, it looks like it has only picked up steam with new entries on the market. In that post, I did a blind tasting featuring 3 barrel aged wines and one regular red wine ringer thrown in. In 2016, I dipped my toes into exploring the strange trend of wine aged in whiskey barrels with my original Whiskey and Wine post. ![]()
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