Critical work for the owners of Per Cazo Cellars

Last night we had serious homework. Dave and I were sampling the next vintage of Per Cazo Cellars red wines. From the beginning when we decided to make wine, we made the conscience decision to focus on offering wines that are blends of various grape varietals. We are partial to this style and based on the comments of folks who enjoy our wines, it is what they prefer too. It really allows the winemaker to use his or her creativity and make an interesting wine. Fortunately for us, it is what Steve Glossner, our winemaker is famous for and he does it very well.

We have three red blends in our portfolio of wine. A Rhone style (Epi Telos), a Bordeaux style (Confluent) and a very unique blend (ZinG) that really features the best characteristics of two varietals to merge together to deliver a very approachable wine. Our task yesterday was to evaluate the 2008 ZinG and Confluent. Steve purposefully did not divulge the blended proportion so we would not have any preconceived notions.

We set up our glasses and poured the test wine and the control wine, last year's bottle. Even though we were both starving, we agreed it was best to taste without food to sway our palates. Since the ZinG is a medium body wine we started with that first. We both agreed it was good but seemed more fruit forward than the test wine. We swirled and sipped and let the wine linger to judge the finish. It had similar flavor profiles but we both felt it needs more play time with Steve.

Next we set up the glasses for the Confluent. The 2007 Confluent is a very popular wine, we literally are down to our last 6 bottles. It also happens to be my favorite so I was taking this very seriously. We first examined the color. The 2008 definitely was deeper and darker. Next the swirl...aah, the rich fruitiness had more complexity compared to the '07. There was hints of blackberry and a sweet leather fragrance. Then we sipped. Actually we chewed. This wine had a wonderful mouth-feel and an unmistakable essence of violets. There is much more going on than its predecessor. Last was the swallow. Big finish but with some finesse. Steve hit a home run with this blend and now we can't wait to bottle and show it off!

We showed no restrain once the homework was complete. We devoured the pizza and kept sampling the wines... and then we slept like babies.