ON TEXAS WINE: Do They Age? Part 27, William Chris Vineyards, 2015 Mourvèdre, Texas (∞)

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. ”

WINE JUDGING

I have a major problem writing a review of this, and all future, wines. I just got back from Sage’s Vintage’s 8th Annual Symposium at Sage’s Vintage custom crush facility in Nacogdoches, east Texas. While there, I heard a presentation on marketing wine in which I learned that young wine drinkers want wines with stories behind them. I tentatively asked if this meant that wine scores had become irrelevant. And in that world they do. I wonder if, taken to its logical conclusion, Sage’s Vintage will replace their winemaker, the estimable Michael McClendon, with a storymaker? Batonnage replaced by backstory, pumpovers by plot.

Judging by backstory also leaves me totally unable to judge a wine, so I shall be an ‘old timer’ and judge wines by the old-fashioned criteria of appearance, nose, palate, and finish. It is better to be useless at something than totally incapable. 

A JUDGEMENT

This is pure mouvèdre from Texas vineyards produced by one of the best wineries in the state. It has a decade on it, which is at the far end of the typical mouvèdre lifespan, plus storage conditions have been a little warm at times.

The nose is all tertiaries: leather, cooked cherry, mushroom, meat, forest floor. This is not a flaw, given its age. The palate is an almost tannin-free explosion of the aromas in the nose, especially the cooked cherries. The sharp edge of the medium-plus acid that has been with the wine since its creation enlivens it. The long finish lingers for half a minute with leather, meat, and mushrooms. For aficionados of fruit-driven young wines, this wine will perplex them. For those used to mature vintages I think there will be agreement that it is not ‘over the hill’ but also a nodding of heads that it would have been better five years ago. Wine does need some fruit in its definition. 

Verdict: Drink now. Best with Hill Country Hog Barbecue.