WTN: 2013 Idlewild Wines Cortese

[David M. Bueker]

2013 Idlewild Cortese Fox Hill Vineyard - USA, California, North Coast, Mendocino County (11/25/2014)
The Jancis Robinson grape encyclopedia describes Cortese as a relatively bland grape. I hope she gets to taste this wine, because it is anything but bland. There is an immediate fruitiness, along with a nutty quality that I have not found in any other young wine. It is really quite amazing. It's crisp, refreshing, and very persistent. I literally could not stop from going back time after time for another sip. Delicious, and unique wine from Sam Bilbro at Idlewild.

I need to check more of his wines out!

I agree, David. This is a very tasty wine.

2013 Idlewild Cortese Fox Hill Vineyard - USA, California, North Coast, Mendocino County (11/25/2014)
The Jancis Robinson grape encyclopedia describes Cortese as a relatively bland grape. I hope she gets to taste this wine, because it is anything but bland. There is an immediate fruitiness, along with a nutty quality that I have not found in any other young wine. It is really quite amazing. It's crisp, refreshing, and very persistent. I literally could not stop from going back time after time for another sip. Delicious, and unique wine from Sam Bilbro at Idlewild.

Arrrgh...scooped again, David. I'd not tried this yet from my latest arrival.
What you call "nutty" is what I term "phenolic"...that I find in skin-contact whites. 25% of this wine was on the skins for over 20 days..hence the phenolics in it. In the '12, he used the grapes on the south-facing side of the vines, which had a beautiful orange color, for the skin-contact fraction, 33% for only 12 days. The less pigmented grapes were w/o skin contact.
Thanks for the TN, David. Maybe it'll be my turkey wine tomorrow.
Tom