2017 Cayuse Impulsivo En Chamberlin Vineyard
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Tasting notes
Bright medium red-ruby. Savory scents of dark raspberry, roasted meat and spices. Thick and savory yet alive on entry, with cherry and red and darker berry flavors framed and lifted by spices and minerals. I find more energy and inner-mouth aromatic lift here than the 2016 showed a year ago but also a seductive plushness in the middle palate. On the full side of medium-bodied but not a bit heavy. I'd love to put this in a blind tasting of top Ribera del Duero wines; it would stand out for its texture and complexity, not to mention its outstanding rising length. Boasts a powerful tannic spine but wonderfully fine-grained and edge-free. A great American Tempranillo with the structure to age: I'd love to revisit this wine in ten years.
Critic scores
Stephen Tanzer, Vinous
Jeb Dunnuck
More reviews and scores
The 2017 Impulsivo begins with an expressive and aromatic nose with roasted blackberries, oak spice tones and charred cherry skin with elements of dusty purple flowers and baked earth. Full-bodied, the wine is expressive and deliciously balanced across the mid-palate before showing exotic spice elements, dried tobacco and cedar plank across the long-lingering finish. For Tempranillo lovers out there, this is a simply delicious wine that represents a New World-style expression of Tempranillo and a clear winner. Check it out. Only 262 cases were produced.
While I don’t think the 2017 Impulsivo matches the 2016, it’s certainly not far off. Showing the more elegant style of the vintage, it offers a gorgeous perfume of smoked black cherries, redcurrants, green tobacco, bloody meat, sandalwood, and Asian spices that opens up with time in the glass. Ethereal, medium to full-bodied, and seamless on the palate, it has flawless balance, polished tannins, no hard edges, and a great, great finish. It’s just beautifully put together and one of the more approachable vintages of this cuvée. It can be drunk with incredible pleasure today (give it an hour decant) or cellared for 15+ years or more. The 2017s from Christophe Baron show the more elegant, balanced style of the vintage nicely while still showing plenty of depth and concentration. These are singular, gorgeous wines that could come from nowhere else.