Good day, Feastlings,
Do you know Todd and Kelly Bostock? They’re your neighbors, just down the road in Elgin, and as luck would have it, they’ve got vineyards chockablock with fruit, and apart from being excellent viticulturists, Todd’s also an impressive winemaker with a talent for blending. If you haven’t tasted Arizona wines for a few years, it’s time to taste again and reevaluate your prior assessment. I know my own introduction to Arizona wine was inauspicious and only memorable in a disappointing way, but I challenge anyone to walk away from next Sunday’s tasting unimpressed. Todd will be here to extol the virtues of his wines and answer any questions you may have about them, and we’ll be pairing a dish with each one. It’s a mere $25 to join us, plus tax and tip, and you’ll get the snacks, and a chat with Todd, and discounts on the wines you love. The only catch: no web or email reservations. If you want us to hold a seat for you, you’ll need to call us at 326-9363. The tasting is on Sunday, May 31, at 3:30 pm. Here are descriptions of the wines straight from the source at Dos Cabezas:
Dos Cabezas are Better than One
2014 Dos Cabezas “Cimmaron Vineyard” Meskeoli, Cochise County $28.00
Green tinged platinum in the glass. Agitation encourages the wine to play melon like, fennel bulb seeming, jasmine flower tricks on the nose. A fleur de sel nasal deception is in cahoots with a similar, saline oral obfuscation. Shimmering acid driven tongue tension overlays fuzzy stone fruit skin grip. Like the repercussions of a roll down a grassy hill, leaves an itch in the mouth that the foods of summer are happy to scratch.
2014 Dos Cabezas “Cimmaron Vineyard” Pink, Cochise County $18.00
A selection of 72% Garnacha, 21% Monastrell & 7% Syrah. Flowing from bottle (or keg tap), a comforting, brilliant morganite liquid gemstone color fills the glass. Disrupting with a swirl, the tranquility of the scene in the glass evolves whiffs of notions encoded in the air of spring. So, WTF does that mean? It smells like waiting to get to the bowl of watermelon while stuck in line behind someone constructing the Sagrada Família of backyard cheeseburgers. Like fresh ozone, the electrically charged zing that foretells monsoon relief to the subjects of Arizona summers. It smells & tastes like tiny, wild Oregon strawberries teetering on precipice of ripeness. It delivers the mouth the sort of bodily enlivenment and satiation of an aqueous dip, plunge or dive. An obliging summer dinner, lunch or breakfast companion. And if you happen to be enjoying it out of a can, everything is the same – but bubbles.
2013 Dos Cabezas Red, Cochise County $18.00
Bright ruby red in the glass, bright spicy fruit in the nose & bright lively tannin in the mouth… Did we mention we think this wine is bright? Flavors of citrus zest, craisins & plum. Center palate red fruit has weight that persists pleasantly. A versatile dining companion, 2013 Red would not be out of sorts next to a paper plate of smoked brisket, a bowl of pasta carbonara or hands full of fried chicken. Made with immediate pleasure in mind – a rare reward, a good thing come to those who aren’t that into waiting.
2012 Dos Cabezas “Cimmaron Vineyard” Toscano, Cochise County $28.00
Transforms the glass it fills into a brilliant, albeit giant garnet gemstone. Aromas of bittersweet cocoa, dried tart cherries & potting soil drift from glass to nose. The hot tip from the nose puts the mouth on the lookout for these characters… and the mouth finds (most of) them. The cherries sitting on the front of the palate tethered by a vanillin filament to the cocoa hanging out on the back. Mildly spicy, cleansing tannin leaves a thin clearcoat on the tongue.
2011 Dos Cabezas “Cimmaron Vineyard” El Norte, Cochise County $30.00
Filling the glass with a liquid the color of the dark red syrup Luxardo cherries swim in. Smells like childhood memories of great roadtrip picnics – deep blue & black preserves smashed into peanut butter slathered bread. Tangled up with scents of cherry cola dribbled on old picnic tables set under giant trees. Transferred from glass to mouth, a deceptive freshness belies deeper impressions of hoisin sauce, macerated alpine fruit/herbs & tongue on 9 volt battery. It blooms on the palate with spiced red fruit & pulverized microfine tannin. The conclusions of our exhaustive research suggest going whole (roasted) hog or lamb or goat when drinking El Norte is an okay thing to do. Quaffing this when you eat stewy stuff on the transitions in or out of winter would be acceptable. Just fine to have a glass or two with some pork belly buns. And finally, you wouldn’t be out of sorts putting a bottle away with the ones you love & the sorts of bacon cheeseburgers that come dripping with sauces that are secret.
2011 Dos Cabezas “Cimmaron Vineyard” Águileón, Cochise County $32.00
A selection of 88% Tempranillo, 6% Graciano & 6% Mourvedre that spent a solid 24 months gestating in woody cocoons made of new & used French & American oak. To be somewhat grossly specific, once poured into a glass the color & body of the wine remind us of those pint bags full of blood we’ve seen at hospitals – perhaps (but not likely) an indication of the wine’s potential for bodily nourishment. The nose is a densely woven mat of fallen pine needles, woodsy spice & juiced pomegranate. With a light descent into your oral airspace, it touches down on your tongue-y tarmac with a savory/juicy/tannic harmony that is intense & engaging without burden. Àguileòn is a loyal hunting companion – working well at the table with most any wild thing commonly harvested from land or air & dealt with simply & thoughtfully.