Hey Mambo

2010 Sultry Red

Notes

Deep purple in color, this 2010 blend shows aromas of warm baking spices (nutmeg, cardamom, cinnamon bark) with gobs of dark black fruit behind it (blackberry, dark cherry, black raspberry). The vanilla aroma comes from American Oak aged portion of the blend and the cocoa/coconut aromas are predominantly from the French oak aged portion of this blend (just about 50/50 on the oak sourcing). On the palate, you first get flavors of ripe blueberry, boysenberry cobbler, dark plum, and wild strawberry. Then the flavors start to change and you get dark cocoa, sweet leather, fresh fig, fermented black bean, and rich toasted oak notes. The finish bounces back and forth between sweet black fruit and dark caramelized oak flavors. This blend gives you a lot of bang for your buck.

This blend has always been a lot of fun to assemble. This is a blend of a number of big red varietals from the places that they grow best. The Sirah comes mostly from Paso Robles and a touch from Lodi giving it some Paso dust complexity and big ripe black fruit.

The Petite Sirah comes from Clarksburg and Lodi giving gobs of fruit flavor. The Zinfandel comes from Lodi, Mendocino, and Amador adding jammy fruit and peppery spice to the blend. The Grenache and Tempranillo come from Clarksburg which adds rasp- berry fruit and acidic structure. Lastly the Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot come from Clarksburg and Paso Robles adding tannic power and blackberry fruit. The sum of the parts is one tasty glass of wine that can be enjoyed with anyone anywhere with almost any food. This crowd pleasing red blend is always a hit!!! Makes you want to sing, “Hey Mambo....”

Pairings

This blend would pair wonderfully with a rack of slowly braised ribs dripping in molasses based BBQ sauce. Sausage lasagna would also be a good pairing. You could also serve this wine with a dessert course of dark chocolate (the 60-70% Cacao stuff). This is a very versatile wine.

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