Barrack, 2005 "Brand", Bordeaux Blend

$42.00 -- "A Wine Bar Favorite" Another gem from Winemaker Doug Margerum, with happy grapes from Happy Canyon Vineyard

Purchase Barrack, 2005 "Brand", Bordeaux Blend

One of five top-selling wines at Tastes of the Valleys wine bar

Tasting Notes:
Deeply-colored blend of Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Cabernet Sauvignon, with Merlot taking the dominant role. Offers deep scents of plums, cassis, licorice, dark earth, toasty oak, and cedar forest. The tannins the wine will improve with four to five years of bottle age though you will never regret opening a bottle.

A surprise to those who dismiss Santa Barbara Bordeaux-style wines as “green” or lacking in complexity. Not this wine! From Santa Barbara's newest AVA (a well-deserved designation, judging from the difference in quality coming from the Happy Canyon area).

While not quite as dark and concentrated as the 2004, the 2005 offers an elegant expression of Merlot. The wine has a very fine nose with hints of blackberry, plum, oak wood, and currants. On the palate it is very diverse from front to back jammy fruit, hints of espresso, herbs, and tobacco. Only 200 cases produced!

The Vineyard, The Winemaker:
Winemaker Doug Margerum is the former owner of the Wine Cask (Santa Barbara and Los Olivos), an accomplished chef, and a consulting winemaker. Among all his commitments he somehow manages to find time to make wine for Tom and Laurel Barrack, the owners of Happy Canyon Vineyard.

Like many who come to the wine business, Tom and Laurel were successful in their own right (you can see Tom on the October 31, 2005 cover of Fortune). They have funneled their love of wine and considerable resources into making a success of this new venture, and are off to a great start if this beautiful wine is any indication. Incidentally, fans of Polo will recognize that the wines' names derive from the lexicon of that noble sport.

Purchase Barrack, 2005 "Brand", Bordeaux Blend

SKU: BAR-BRAND-05

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