TN: 2018 Desire Lines Carignan Evangelho

Posted from CellarTracker

I popped a ‘19 the day after arrival. Drinking great right now, maybe one to try while waiting on the ‘18s.

Mourvèdre funk? So it’s not all Carignan?

90/10

The front label reads Red Wine.

From my note on the 19: ‘It kept that super aromatic, juicy profile for the first couple of hours it was open. The last quarter or so of the bottle, the more meaty, feral Mourvèdre was there with some coaxing.’

Ah. Looking on my phone I did not see the fine print. I actually bought a few bottles of that. I’ll try just about any Evangelho bottling I can find.

90% Carignan and 10% Mourvedre is our best guess at the blend from the section of the vineyard that we get, but with all the usual field-blend caveats. There are a few Palomino vines in our section, and even the exceedingly rare Calomino - Carignan and Palomino grafted together into one vine.

And yeah, I’m totally fascinated by the way that Carignan and Mourvedre react differently to oxygen. From just a few data points for us, the dark fruit and savory side of Mourvedre shut down quickly in bottle and the wine shows as really red-fruited initially. So far it takes a loooong decant to get the Mourvedre to open up in the glass. (And, in the case of our Fred’s Mourvedres, we even rack those wines once during elevage to shift the redox balance back towards a more pliant mouthfeel.)

Love everything about Evangelho Vineyard, including the way it shows vintage variation so clearly and gracefully - the 2018 for me is racy and vibrant and will soften with time, while the 2019 is a little more plush with a touch more fruit sweetness and density on the palate and drinking great now.

Yes!

Time to grab a botte and see what’s up.

Thanks Cody!

Opened a bottle of the 2019 tonight. The Mourvèdre element does need time to emerge. The Carignan is obvious with the high toned fruit and crisp herb tones. Nice stuff. Looking forward to following this wine for several years.

Excellent notes, and a special thanks to Cody for chiming in on the vintage variations.