The Odd One
2022, Adelaida District, Paso Robles, USA
About the Wine
The blend includes 41% Zin, 21% Carignan, 10% Cinsault, 10% Syrah, 9% Grenache, and 9% Mouvedre. The Odd One 2022 was one of the more challenging blends to assemble due to a preponderance of delicious barrels existing in the cellar. After multiple attempts at this blend we finally picked out barrels of Mourvedre, Carignan, Cinsault, and Syrah to pair with two barrels of Thibido Zinfandel and a single puncheon of dry-farmed Zinfandel from Mustang Springs Ranch. Each of these individual lots were destemmed and fermented natively in macro bins except for the Cinsault. Cinsault from Thacher's Homestead Hill Vineyard was gently squeezed as whole clusters to produce our Rosè before being liberated from the press into a bin, and heavily foot-treaded to release the remaining juices into a 100% whole cluster fermentation. This "reverse-saignee" as we've taken to calling it in the cellar, produces a vibrant and concentrated wine that we found to be a really fun blending component to play with in the cellar. Barrels for the final blend were meticulously selected in July of 2023, blended into a tank and barrelled back down to a selection of 30% new French Oak. This wine was racked once more before bottling in March of 2024.
Tasting Notes
Don't let the light-garnet color, or the wide, clear margin temper your impressions of this wine. Intense aromas of lilacs, blackberry briars, sage and sandalwood perfumes leap from the glass. Once sipped red cherries and currants hold the middle of your tongue while gritty and grippy tannins, limestone minerality, and an infield of umami flavors from soy, to fernet, to cola and menthol dance around your palate. Fantastic minerality and tannin in unison give way to a blueberry hued finish.
Pairing Notes
Delicious with Mushroom Risotto, Braised Beef, Rack of Lamb, Pizza, Burgers, BBQ Chicken, BBQ Beef Ribs...This wine is so versatile!