TN: Checking in on two 2015 Dirty and Rowdy Mourvèdre

Decided to check in on a couple of 2015 Dirty & Rowdy wines this weekend. Last night, I started with the 2015 Antle Vineyard Mourvèdre, and ran smack into a brick wall. I let it sit for 90 minutes, and nothing changed. It appears to be completely shut down.

I just now opened the 2015 Shake Ridge Ranch Mourvèdre, and we have a totally different story. It is still very primary, but it’s wide open and delicious. Red plum, earthy tones, fresh herbs, new leather, it’s all there. Lovely stuff with plenty of depth to go for a while. It’s so fun now!

Thanks for checking in on these wines, David!!

Antle makes some tough wines to love early in. Will be interesting to see if they turn a corner

David,

Thanks for the notes.

Across the board, '15 is our most structured vintage. I haven’t popped a '15 Antle since Feb- it was pretty firm. Poured in a flight of 14-16, I liked it , but it was the tightest in the lineup. I tried a '15 Shake around the same time. I thought it was tight, too. (Glad to hear that one is opening up).

For those that have them, I recommend people sit on '15 vineyard designates (across the board) and polish off the '15 Familiar wines . The '14s and '16s vineyard designates are far more open.

Antle (Chalone AVA) and Enz (Lime Kiln Valley AVA) produce our most structured wines. They sit on opposite sides of the Gabilan Range and they are pretty extreme and have a lot of calcareous, granitic, and volcanic soils

Though I think vintage has a ton to do with it, there has been an evolution in Antle (now called Rodnick Farm) fruit over the years.

In '13, we only got fruit from the lower and mid slope and took it in one pass. The Antle family had been keeping the upper block for themselves.

In '14, we got 1/2 the upper slope (along with the lower and mid) and picked the upper block about 2 weeks before the bottom.

In '15, we took over the whole block (low, mid, upper) and picked the upper block about 2 1/2 weeks earlier than the rest.

That pattern stayed the same in '16 and '17 (declassified), and stretched to about a 4 week difference between top and bottom in 18.

Here is a pic of the slope
Antle Rodnick slope .jpg
The upper block has some crazy soil-
Antle Rodnick Soil.jpg
Here are my conservative estimates on Antle-

2013- Starting to show positive evolution. A little rounding of the tannin, a bit more savory, and darker fruited. Gives a lot of pleasure, but I think it needs 5+ to get the secondary flavors more developed. 5+

2014- Still in primary / delicious phase. Lots of rock, bright fruit, crunchy tannin. 7-10years.

2015- Darkest fruit, tight, small hard tannins. 10yrs+ (maybe more?)

2016- Elegant, suave, long -crunchy tannin, but drinking really well. We have a customer in MT pouring this by the glass out of 1.5Ls. Drink now or hold 5-8yrs

2017- Declassified into Unfamiliar Mourvèdre

2018- Rodnick Farm (new name for vineyard) Especial (our lightest, shortest maceration wine) - Bright cranberry, mineral, joyful (meant to drink now- don’t be a hero drink it!)

2018- Rodnick Farm Mourvèdre - to be bottled in July (feels like a cross between '14 and '16)- Bright red fruit, great tannin, juicy. (TBD)

other wines with Antle / Rodnick in them

2014 Dirty Rowdy Enfield- Starting to soften, still super tight don’t touch 7-10yrs
2016 Chalone AVA MSG- stunning wine, but still primary and taut. 5-8yrs

Chalone AVA has an incredible track record for being able to make wines that go the distance, we hope ours follow in those footsteps.