Winery - Desert Wind
* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
Like the merlot, it is earthy, green, stemmy and vegetal, with little or no suggestion of ripe fruit.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
Stemmy, green and harsh, with flavors of earth, stem and pip. The watery, dilute flavors barely suggest fruit.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
This is very ripe, perhaps too ripe, with pruney, raisiny fruit, and a dead leaf, slightly decayed quality. It's easy to drink, forward and soft, with very dry tannins and a lot of herbs, tobacco and earth flavors. A style for immediate drinking with foods (steaks!) that need something to cut the fat.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
A new winery, owned by the Fries family of Dundee, Oregon, with a lovely ppackage and a new entry into the ever-expanding Washington Merlot sweepstakes. The wine is soft and chalky in the mouth, with flavors of berries and cream, but it feels increasingly disjointed and a bit manipulated as the finish wears on.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
The blend is 46% Cabernet Sauvignon, 38% Merlot and 16% Cabernet Franc. It opens up softly, with fragrant, plummy fruit. Once tasted it turns firm to the point of tough, and the fruit seems constrained, or overpowered, by the rough, earthy tannins.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
This premiere effort feels a bit forced; the fruit dry and slightly hot in the mouth, with sharp acids. Missing is the lushness of Sémillon; in its place a tight, alcoholic, slightly bitter wine.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
The core of this no-oak wine is medium-ripe fruit in the apple/pineapple mode. But a bitter, harsh aftertaste throws it off course, and it never recovers.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
This is a Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc blend. It’s tannic and rustic, with some green character along with a roasted, raisiny fruit flavor. Cinnamon and mocha barrel flavors fill out the finish.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
Desert Wind wines as a rule fall on the thin and watery side, but here the exceptional vintage has provided a welcome bit of concentration. Banana and tropical fruit are not especially rich but are reasonably persistent. Some time in new oak would have added depth to the finish, but then it wouldn’t be bare naked.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
Peachy and fat, with a soft middle and some bitter phenolics in the finish.
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