So I was at my favorite local indie wine retailer the other day and mentioned that I'd made a winery-direct purchase of the 2014 Tamarack Cellars Counoise for tonight's Obscure Grape" tasting. Ted asked if I was concerned about the oak (no, in fact with this group that would be a plus) and how I even knew Tamarack made this. And I said well there's this nuclear physicist in Santa Fe and Ted floored me with, "Oh, would that be Tom Hill?"
Well, Tom, if you're listening: apparently you and Ted both know one Robert Goodfriend, who came to Bellingham for awhile after leaving Santa Fe. During his stint here, he and Ted talked wine a lot and Robert referenced you so often that Ted remembers your name.
Once again, the world of wine is amazingly small.
So last night I opened one of these puppies. From Red Mountain fruit (in Washington, tantamount to Napa's Diamond Mountain), an unexpected delight. Hugely perfumed (drank best in a Burgundy glass) with loads of attractive red fruits and just a hint of vanilla and spice from 2nd and 3rd year French oak barrels. Unfamiliar with counoise as a stand-alone grape, was impressed by the balance and structure that developed in the glass. Body & concentration similar to an expensive pinot noir.
The most amazing thing about this attractive and delicious wine is that, where grapes grown for/relegated to only blending purposes usually kind of show why that's true in the glass, there is nothing about this wine that isn't special enough to showcase on its own. It's got everything. Should cellar and evolve another five years at least, but I probably wouldn't be able to keep my hands off them.