2010 Betz Family Clos de Betz
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Tasting notes
Stepping back a vintage, the 2010 Clos de Betz is a blend of 58% Merlot, 35% Cabernet Sauvignon and 7% Petit Verdot. Ripe, voluptuous and supple, it offers up a black cherry, currant, tobacco, cedar and bouquet garni aromatic profile to go with a medium to full-bodied, mouth-filling and beautifully textured personality. More elegant than powerful, it nevertheless has ample polished tannin emerging on the finish and should evolve nicely for 10-15 years. Drink now-2025. Always one of my favorite visits, Betz Family Winery is owned and run by Steve and Bridgit Griessel (since 2011), with Washington State veteran Bob Betz and assistant winemaker Tyson Schiffner making the wines. While I’ve been drinking this estate’s Rhone blends for years, this was my first experience with the Bordeaux blends, and certainly, I came away impressed. Across the board, everything showed the classic Betz characteristics of inky colors, solid concentration and clean, overall age-worthy and beautifully made profiles. Looking at 2010 and 2011, 2010 is a slightly stronger vintage with additional concentration and depth, where the 2011s should be more approachable early on. www.betzfamilywinery.com
Critic scores
Average Score
Stephen Tanzer, Vinous
Jeb Dunnuck, Wine Advocate
More reviews and scores
(58% merlot, 35% cabernet sauvignon and 7% petit verdot): Bright, full red. Spicy high notes to the aromas of raspberry, graphite, sandalwood and cocoa powder. Juicy, perfumed and precise; not a fleshy style but elegant, vibrant and extremely young. Today the wine's mid-palate flavors and texture are still a bit suppressed by the bottling, but this long, firm-edged wine has the structure and inherent material to be outstanding. In fact, I retasted the 2009 next to it, and while that wine was silkier and plusher, it is not likely to match the 2010 for complexity a few years down the road.