Bending Branch Winery, 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon, Newsom Vineyards, Texas High Plains (∞)
by Andrew Chalk
The preamble to part one read…
“More people are coming round to the idea that Texas can make good wine as they sample more of it. But the ultimate test of gravitas in, at least red wines, is how they age. How does Texas do in that regard?
To find out, I am doing a series of tastings of Texas wines, all 10+ years old, and assessing how they are doing. I am choosing them based on how their peers in other parts of the world do at the end of their first decade.”
And later added
“Since this vintage is no longer available in the retail market I have helpfully indicated the price as ‘infinity’ in the title, above. ”
BACKGROUND
Founded as recently as 2009, Bending Branch Winery rose like a rocket into the top tier of Texas wineries. Founder Dr. Bob Young, a Kentucky physician, is an enthusiastic advocate of technologies designed to maximize extraction from the grape. Flash détente and cryo maceration being the two most prominent. The results are accolades from across the nation about their wines.
This wine is a very early effort at cabernet sauvignon made with grapes from Texas’ most famous vineyard. For a second year effort it is a prodigy. For the future it can be seen as a harbinger of the big, full-bodied reds that were to become the winery’s signature.
TASTING NOTES
Appearance: Translucent brick red core yields to a brown fringe.
Nose: Stewed prunes, figs, cedar, mushrooms, molasses, wet barrels.
Palate: Big mouthfuls of the fruits and wood found in the nose. Tannins still provide grippy textures. Medium acid. Long woody finish.
We caught this near the limit of its plateau of peak drinkability. But in time none the less. Best sipped slowly with a big meal of red meat of over along movie.
Touching to see an alcohol level of 13.7%. Would that more of today's 'big reds' could be so restrained.
Does it age? Hell yeah.
Sample.
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