2015 K Vintners Vintners Charlotte

A field blend that is co-fermented and has a distinctive blue-flower and blue-fruit nose (mourvedre) as well as wild herbs, red berries and a potpourri of wood and spice. The palate is quite concentrated and firm, delivering a ripe array of long-form tannin that holds beyond expectations. Blend of mourvedre, syrah, grenache, counoise, cinsault, picpoul and grenache blanc. Will drink well for over a decade.

The 2015 Charlotte Blend checks in as 42% Mourvèdre, 28% Syrah, 16% Grenache, and the rest a mix of Rhône varieties. Young and backward, with smoky dark fruits and some youthful notes of ground pepper and smoke, this beauty is full-bodied, plush, and sexy on the palate, with some serious oomph in its aromas and flavors. It’s a rock star of a Rhône blend that’s going to be better with another year or two of bottle age and keep for 7-8. This is another formidable lineup from Charles Smith and Brennon Leighton, who have recently moved their winemaking facility from Walla Walla to just outside of Seattle. All of the pure Bordeaux variety blends/releases have been moved to the Wine of Substance label (also reviewed in this report), and the K Vintners label is reserved for Rhône variety releases. By and large, these are all not destemmed and brought mostly in neutral puncheons. As I’ve said in the past, these are the real deal and are brilliant wines.

(co-fermented in concrete): Saturated medium ruby. Aromas of crushed blackberry, licorice, tar and medicinal herbs. Intensely flavored and penetrating, conveying an almost shocking impression of acidity that belies its pH, which Brennon Leighton says is between 3.8 and 3.9 (but the acidity is a reasonably healthy 5.6 grams per liter). The juicy dark berry, spice and licorice flavors lead to a classically dry, palate-staining finish featuring broad, dusty, mouth-saturating tannins. The crop level here was reportedly barely two tons per acre. In a manifestly Old World style, and more Languedoc than Châteauneuf du Pape in its restraint.