80% Sangiovese, 20% Cabernets Sauvignon & franc; estate-grown in Lyle, Washington; Columbia Gorge AVA; planted 2004; grown in pre-flood hilltop soils and flood deposit & basalt colluvium; brought up in veteran barrels; 127 cases produced; 13.8% ABV.
Though the label is mum on the subject, you insiders may recognize this as the “missing” 2021 Sangiovese bottling. That harvest season, the portion we farm in Mosier was pressed immediately for rosé, while our Lyle harvest went this way, tucked in alongside a single barrel’s worth of Cabernets Sauvignon and franc.
Maybe beautiful wines come two ways. Optically speaking, the first might be described as prismatic, the second lenticular. Of the first type are those complex wines with many planes, reflecting and refracting, changing as you shift your perspective, inviting multiple interpretations. This wine, Whimsy, delights differently. It is more like a lens–an essence, super pure, is revealed in the glass rather than projected from it. Not faceted but magnified; you seem to view it from inside, looking out. Some imaginary new fruit is debuted (from grapes though– yes!), suggesting something of pomegranate, maybe, or the work of obscure plums, becoming more berry-ish with time open.
Part of the greatness of Sangiovese lies in the genius of its particular (and un-showy) tannin structure. I can’t tell you why, but the specific character of exemplary Sangiovese wines is exactly adjacent to the sensory experience of opening a beautiful old book. No other grape has so strong an association for me. Wine is strange.
