WINEMAKING/TASTING NOTES
Flat out, we love making blends at Turtle Run. The staff and I can come up with a wine concept on how we want the wine to taste, then we blend it until we get it. In Europe for centuries, their “trick” to make great wines relied on saving back older vintages to blend in with newer ones. Here is the secret behind the trick: As wine ages, complex esters form which enhance the flavor and mouthfeel in the wine. Typically, they’ll also soften the wine on the palate — but sometimes at the expense of bright fruit flavors. Blending old with new allows consumers to experience both. So why don’t we see a lot of non-vintage wines? My theory is this. Wine magazines today live by their buyer’s guides. The buyer’s guides are based on sampling and analyzing newly released wines with vintage dates. I just don’t think the wine magazines have any interest in rating non-vintage wines, especially since some of the basis for their creation had to do with blending to make consistent wines. For several of our non-vintage wines, Dry Tortuga, The Mammatus, The Labyrinth, and Joe’s Jammin’ Red come to mind, we try to blend to make a consistent flavor: thus they can only be rated once — hence, no need for a buyers guide after that. And that concept doesn’t sell wine magazines. Since wineries can make a killing off of a good rating, the idea to blend non-vintage wines has become very old school, so not very many of us are doing it. And thus an entire class of great wines has fallen by the wayside. Not because consumers didn’t like them, but rather because the wine magazines altered the focus on how wineries should approach winemaking — vintage dates.
Painted Red is designed to be an easy-going dry red with lots of complex flavors. Not overly tannic, but still with some zip of tannins, we strive for fruit-forward and long finishes.
This is an upfront, bold, fruity red with great intensity. It kind of smacks you around in a way. The syrah adds depth and complexity with the other two adding just wonderful fruit.
WINE SPECS
Vintage: 2021 and 2022| Varietals Frontenac and Mourvedre | Appellation: Indiana Uplands AVA, Turtle Run Vineyards and Livermore Valley AVA, Ripon CA, DePalma Vineyards
Acid 0.71 | PH 3.71| Alcohol % 13.1
Price: $20 per bottle