2009 Mourvèdre

Mourvèdre - [ Moor-VED'rr] Mourvèdre provides backbone and structure and aging potential.  It tastes of strawberry, ripe plum and mushroom when young and leather and truffles as it is aged.  Mourvèdre is dark, purple/black in color.

Grenache - [gruh-NAHSH] Grenache is proven to be suited for the dry warm and sometimes windy climate of the Texas Hill Country.  Happily, Grenache responds well to water stress in hot well drained soil.  It buds early and ripens late which allows the sugars to reach high levels resulting in alcohol levels often greater than 15%.  Grenache lends fruit, acidity and tannin.  It tastes of cherry, raspberry, strawberry, raisin and currant with black pepper, menthol and licorice.  When yields are kept in check, Grenache can develop very complex, intense characteristics of black cherry, black olives, coffee, gingerbread, honey, leather, tar and roasted nuts.  It is a brilliant ruby red color.  Grenache can have tremendous depth and longevity and can open up more tannic varietals such as Syrah and Mourvedre.   Competing theories have Grenache with either Spanish origins from the north region of Aragon or the Italian island of Sardinia where it is called Cannonau being brought from there to Spain in the 14th or 15th century when Sardinia was ruled by Aragon. 

Tempranillo - [tempra-neeo] literally “the early one”.  Thriving even with a short growing season Tempranillo is vibrant; offering spicy red fruit flavors and aromas.  It generates complexity with oak aging .  It may be medium bodied with more acid and tannin.  It may produce every day wine or complex and concentrated “Reserva” and “Gran Reserva”.