Winery - Sparkman
* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
This is minimal intervention winemaking, using native yeast, then put through 100% malolactic and given weekly batinage (lees stirring) in 50% new barrels. The grapes are from Stillwater Creek, delivering ripe, tangy flavors of lime, pineapple, apple, pear and nectarine; all with a firm acid underpinning.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
This nicely structured Bordeaux blend’s aromas begin with violets and roll into cherry candy, while in the mouth the wine is sweet yet firm, with tart acids that are tightly wound. A mix of berry, cherry and cassis fruit is counterweighted with citric acids. Tannins are ripe with hints ofcut tobacco, moist earth and black olive.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
This is a hefty, chewy wine, whose alcohol flirts with 15%, but whose ample fruit is buttressed with chalk, earth, steel and tannin. Dark and loaded with smoky graphite, it should be decanted for some hours before serving. How will it cellar? Could go for decades, but it’s too soon to call.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
A new wine for Sparkman, the Darkness delivers gobs of black fruits, tobacco, smoke, graphite and smoked meat flavors. Right now the fruit is amped up and the young, juicy flavors of raspberry, boysenberry and Bing cherry fill the mouth; but right behind are leaf, tobacco, Asian spice and sweet wood. An exceptional effort.
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Sparkman Syrah - 2006
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
Sourced from Dick Boushey’s Birdhouse vineyard, this ink-black wine is threaded throughout with the good funk—seaweed, iodine, and salt flavors that a Japanese friend calls umami. Along with that come black fruits, hazelnuts and light barrel toast.
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Sparkman Syrah - 2007
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
This is just the second vintage of the Lumière Chardonnay from this rising star winery, and it is already causing a buzz. Washington produces very few high end white wines that would be natural companions to its reds on a restaurant wine list. This tight, precise, concentrated and focused Chardonnay fills that need. Though loaded with tropical and stone fruit flavors, this retains its acidic spine and finishes with plenty of toasty, buttered nut, barrel flavors.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
From Klipsun and Hedges fruit, this muscular, aromatic Merlot begins with pretty berry scents, then develops flavors of currant and cherry. It’s a wine with meat and muscle, still packed tight, but dense with potential. Give it plenty of decanting, or cellar it for five years.
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Sparkman Merlot - 2007
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
Wilderness is Chris Sparkman’s most affordable and most available wine, a mix of all the barrels and vineyards that go into his other reds. It is forward, loaded with mixed red and black fruits, and lusciously chocolaty. What it does not have is the focus of the other wines; this one’s a lap dog, and wants to lick you all over.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
This is three quarters Syrah, sourced from Klipsun, Hedges Bel Villa, and Lewis; with a touch of Merlot from the Meek vineyard. Dark, spicy and lush, its sappy fruit has a lively snap to it, with a hint of licorice and smoke. Not the funky “in the rocks” Walla Walla style of Syrah, this is for those who want the fruit forward, front and center.
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Sparkman Syrah - 2007
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
This is a Merlot-dominated Bordeaux blend. Along with pleasant, strawberry fruit you’ll find scents of candied roses and hints of fresh herb. The length and detail bespeak a wine with medium-term aging potential. Baking spices dominate the finish, with a burst of heat from the near-15% alcohol.
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