2016 Pepper Bridge Vineyard

Happy Sunday and Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there!  I spent the weekend up in Traverse City Michigan and we did a little wine tasting yesterday, and although they make some nice wines, it's good to get back to my normal selections of big red wines, and tonight is no exception.  I have opened a bottle of the most recent Pepper Bridge wine club shipment which arrived last week, the 2016 Pepper Bridge Vineyard red wine.  This wine is made up of Merlot (48%), Malbec (26%) and Cabernet Sauvignon (26%) all from the Pepper Bridge Vineyard in the Walla Walla Valley AVA. So let's have a taste!

The wine is a deep garnet color in the glass, just as you'd expect from these prime varietals.  The nose is chock full of candied plum, blackberry and cherry with solid notes of oak, graphite and a bit of black pepper.  The taste is very fruit forward with a rush of plum, black cherry and blackberry that transitions nicely to some notes of dark chocolate and black pepper spice midpalate.  There is a good bit of oak on the back end as the voluptuous tannin structure meets up with a nice bit of acidity that brings you to a surprisingly bright and very dry finish that seems to linger.

Overall, I would rate this wine a solid 9, as it's just a wonderfully big, bold red wine with enough structure and sophistication to stand up to a big steak or to simply sip on the patio on a cool summer evening.  This wine practically begs to be paired with meat, from steaks to roast beef to lamb or pork tenderloin.  Of course tonight I am enjoying this wine with a prime New York strip grilled rare with some grilled leeks and oven roasted beets with applewood bacon.  Cheers!