Alan, Morgan made those wines with the specific goal of mimicking Guigal’s LaLas from Côte-Rôtie, which is to him “heavy-handed” winemaking. I’d also guess he did the Exposition project to see how high the wines would score with RMP…nothing wrong with throwing a 100 or two on the 'ol résumé. Agreed they rank up there with his best, at least the ones I’ve tasted.
But yeah, that’s not the style he was ever looking to make so don’t get your hopes up for more.
So what does he mean by Heavy handed ? ive tasted a few of them now, got a full set resting but this comment confuses me. These wines to me are lighter and more explosive than his normal syrahs, so does heavy handed mean that they were just more labor intensive ? heavy handed to me implies clumsy and clunky but those are the last descriptors you would use, the wines are fantastically vibrant
Alan, I won’t speak for Morgan but all I take that comment to mean is that with the Exposition series there involved more winemaking influence than simply letting the vineyard express itself without much intervention. This seems natural if the purpose was to create 3 different wines to each finish exactly within a given framework he was trying to achieve. In the case of these wines that included longer elevage, heavier oak regimes, co-ferments, etc. All of which represent much more winemaker influence than Morgan typically prefers to impart on his wines where the focus is more on expression of the vineyard and vintage.
I think its just the term heavy handed, if its just that they require a lot more work and manipulation then labor intensive or hard work would be fine, its just the term heavy handed that implies something else
I am going to pass on this offer. I will not be getting any of Bedrock’sother old-vine (planted 1905) Contra Costa red wine.
The “Pato Vineyard” is situated only a little distance South-East of the “Evangelho Vineyard” but, as Mr Morgan Twain-Peterson has stated:
“The wine is a completely different expression of the area than Evangelho—the site tends towards slightly higher pHs and a riper expression of the area. Here, dark fruit dominates, in part due to the larger percentage of Petite Sirah. The sandy soils provide supple texture and polish but there is considerable fruit weight.”