WTN: 2006 Edmunds St. John That Old Black Magic

2006 Edmunds St. John That Old Black Magic 14.3%
I had been saving Heart of Gold and Black Magic to be drunk together as BYO at some restaurant with another couple. But the opportunity was taking too long to materialize, so I said screw it, let's unscrew them on consecutive nights.

This baby has a peculiarity raised to the power of three: it mixes co-fermented Syrah from different vineyards, co-fermented Syrah and Grenache from the same vineyard, and co-fermented Syrah and Grenache from different vineyards. If you've managed to keep that straight, you haven't had any wine today. The only other co-fermented wine I had encontered was Roagna's Solea (http://www.roagna.com/pagine/eng/vini_r ... olea.lasso), that co-ferments chardonnay and nebbiolo.

Why are not more wines co-fermented? There must be a good reason. What is the difference in final flavor between co-fermenting and blending? I have no idea.

Aroma was muted but elegant, with ripe cherry and light eucalyptus. Marcia got vanilla, I didn't. Sniffed right after opening and pouring, the alcohol was a bit too present, covering other aromas. But everything became quite pleasurable in the mouth: not at all hot, cherry and eucalyptus confirmed, very satisfying body, with a streak of seriousness that makes it commanding without pretense (like the perfect dinner guest). Perfect acid/sweet balance, deliciously tangy acidity. With alarm, I noted that Marcia was downing hers faster than I was mine. She said "you know how much I love Syrah," as if that justified anything.

Hi Oswaldo,
Unless it’s a proven and worthy age-old recipe, co-fermentations can be very unpredictable. It is always safer to ferment the varieties separately and blend much later in the winemaking process. With that said though, co-fermentations give different results than just blending and this is because they are allowed to ferment as one.

Salute

thanks for note, have a single of this I've been meaning to get to

The co-fermentations were undertaken with exhaustive deliberation. Both Eaglepoint Ranch, in the mountains east of Ukiah, in Mendocino County, and Fenaughty Vineyard, in the hills above Placerville, in the Apple Hill district, have blocks of Syrah and Grenache that ripen simultaneously. Given that the two varieties in each of the two vineyards are under the very watchful guidance of the same farmer, in each case, and that I was able to make a picking call, in each case, based on my own conviction that the blocks in question were ripe and ready to pick simultaneously, co-fermentation made absolutely perfect sense.
Co-fermentation will create, in my experience, much more complete integration between separate lots than blending after fermentation. The resulting wine is, typically, much harder to look at in terms of single varieties, or single lots. You have ONE wine that is a whole comprised of its discreet parts, which can no longer be thought of as separate.

Cool! The integration makes perfect sense when grapes co-mature.