Twisted Oak, Tempranillo 2004
By Tim on Dec 29, 2006 in Recommendations, Tasting Notes
One of the hazards of reviewing wines is to write about wines made by people you know. Most times this is manageable since you are not that close but for some reason I was nervous tasting this wine since I picked it up after being compelled by the winery’s owner. I shouldn’t have been that concerned since I could always pass on posting the review, but I would have to give my opinion at some point even in private.
Twisted Oak is an interesting winery for many reasons. First, it would seem to be run by either irreverent anarchists or the complete insane (or, perhaps, a bit of both). Their varietal line-up is right up my alley with Rhone and Spanish varietals. I picked up their Tempranillo at my favorite wine store, Solo Vino, so I shouldn’t have been too concerned to begin with as they only stock the best juice. I do have to say that Twisted Oak’s blog is among my favorite from any winery and I only hope they take up podcasting at some point (it would be a hoot in either audio or video).
Twisted Oak, Tempranillo, Calaveras County 2004 ($18) – Dark purple in color with aromas of black raspberry, licorice, earth and vanilla. In the mouth, there are blackberry, pepper and mint flavors with sweet tannins and a rich mouthfeel. Very much like Zinfandel which, of course, I love so. In a word, tasty.
Natural cork closure
13.9% ABV
Score 88
el jefe | Dec 31, 2006 | Reply
hi Tim – don’t worry, I still love you! Thanks for the nice review!
And you get your wish, sort of – Ryan over at catavino.net interviewed us for his podcast the other day and you can listen to it here:
http://catavino.net/archives/681/2006/12/23/
I can’t say that it is all that much of a hoot overall, but it has its moments (for example, “large pink wine racks…”) And if another podcaster would like to interview us sometime he should just ask…:)