At a farmer’s market in the Pearl area of San Antonio I stumbled upon a booth by Bending Branch Winery. The lovely pourers were sweet enough to let me do a flight of their selections.
I tried the following wines and my ratings are below; 🍷 to 🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷. More detailed reviews follow:
Picpoul Blanc 🍷🍷🍷
Tannat Rosé 🍷🍷🍷🍷
Mourvèdre 🍷🍷
Cabernet Sauvignon 🍷🍷🍷
Tannat – 🍷🍷
Picpoul Blanc is one of the lesser known Rhône grape varietals. It is one of the 13 grape varietals allowed in the Châteauneuf-du-Pape region, although it is often used for blending. I’m not very familiar with the grape. I’ve had it from Tablas Creek in Paso Robles, but it isn’t something I’m familiar with tasting. Literally translated as ‘lip stinger’, the grape is known for producing wines that have a lemony flavor. To me (and my uneducated palette), it drank like a Viognier. It just felt like it had more acid. The finish on this one was very short and flat.
Tannat Rosé – this was the biggest and happiest surprise for me. I normally like a Provence style Rosé, so the very dark color had me skeptical. It was so lovely and my favorite of the tasting. It was medium bodied and full of fruit, especially rose. The real surprise for me was the ending, which was not dry, but fruity with a punch. But, not too much of a punch to knock you out, just enough to remind you that it’s best had on a hot day when you feel like sweet fruit.
Mourvèdre – I love this grape! It is one of my favorites. Mourvèdre produces full-bodied wines and is a great grape for those of you that love Cabernet Sauvignon. This grape is also the M in all those GSM blends you see in California. All that said, I thought this Mourvèdre was eh – not horrible (I didn’t spit it out!), but it is absolutely not worth my valuable wine dollars.
Cabernet Sauvignon – This wine was medium bodied with light tannins. I’m used to Napa Cabs, so this felt lighter, fruiter and in a way flatter to those. It was nice, but at the price point I’d rather buy a higher quality Napa Cab.
Tannat – This wine was the biggest disappointment for me of the lineup. Tannat is a grape originally from the southwest of France and it for me normally equates to bolder wines with lots of flavor at a very good price point. This Tannat was just overly acidic and way waaay to young! It turns out that normally they age their Tannat in oak for three years and unfortunately the 2016 was aged for two. You can tell. It just needs more time. I’d love to find a 2015, which I’m told sold out very quickly. The potential is really there and I’d like to see it recognized.
I have to admit that being a California girl I was a bit leery (let’s just admit it – snobby) about Texas producing decent wine, but overall this tasting changed my opinion and truly peeked my interest in exploring the area and letting Texas and its wines surprise me.
On another note this winery does have a tasting room in California and I look forward to stopping by and trying their California wines!
