OK, so this wine managed to confuse me at first. Cline is a big name in Sonoma, but their mourvedre comes from Contra Costa — which turns out to be only 20 miles north of Livermore Valley (south east of Sonoma). A few years ago I first heard the perfect phrase to describe this wine, from the owner of Campus Wines in Providence RI. I have since heard the phrase from him every time I bought wine at his establishement: “fruit-forward.” That guy was pretty much annoying, and I only wasted $20 before I learned that I do not like “fruit-forward”, and that instead I would simply say a wine is “too sweet”. Having said all that, there is something interesting going on in this bottle, a taste and aroma that I can’t quite place, and I like it. Maybe because pure mourvedre is not so common? Dunno. Its worth trying though. As a final note, I tried the 2004 vintage of this wine back before I started this journal, and I didn’t recall it being nearly so fruit-flipping-forward.
paid: $14
scored: 87
