Underground Wine Project's Idle Hands 2015
Before getting into these stellar wines & winery, I’ll give a quick tour of Red Mountain AVA. Red Mountain AVA is the smallest AVA in Washington State. It’s located within the subregion of Yakima Valley AVA, which is located in Columbia Valley AVA, basically it’s 4 layers down in the appellation system. It has a dry, almost desert like arid climate thanks to the rain shadow of the Cascade Mountains to the west. The steep slopes are made up of sandy loam and gravel soils with high alkalinity and a rich calcium carbonate. This helps reduces the vigor of the vines resulting in much smaller berries which concentrates the flavors tenfold. Combine all this with the cooling winds from the Yakima River, high diurnal temperature shifts and elevation ranges of 150-450m creates richer, fruity wines & higher tannin levels.
The Underground Wine Project started in 2009 as a collaboration of rockstar winemakers and long time friends Mark Ryan (Mark Ryan Winery) and Trey Busch (Sleight of Hand Cellars) which quickly blossomed into a cult following amongst wine enthusiasts. These guys are true winemakers in every sense of the word. They stick to what does well with what Mother Nature has given them and let’s the varietal shine in the bottle. No nonsense, purity and elegance all musically dancing together at the same time. Limited release wines that show the pureness and true character of Red Mountain - think loads of ripe red fruits, currants, cocoa, minerality and spicy tobacco . Both Mark and Trey are huge music fans, especially Pearl Jam. They started an initiative with the band for this special Valentine’s Day release of a limited production 2-bottle box set to help support Pearl Jam’s Vitlalogy Foundation in an effort to alleviate homelessness. They also produce a mouthwatering rich Rosé wine called “Mr. Pink” (think of the movie Reservoir Dogs), Devil’s Playground ( 90% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Syrah) and Idle Hands (90% Syrah and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon ).
Today’s wine is Idle Hands 2015. As mentioned above, it’s a blend of 90% Syrah and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon. The grapes are from the outstanding Red Heaven Vineyard. The wines are aged for 16 months in 20% new American oak (extra tight grained) barrels and 80% neutral French oak. The wine is a deep inky purple colored wine with raspberry, black cherry, rich dark plums, cassis, smoke, tobacco, black pepper, licorice, vanilla, chocolate, black olives, anise and berry jam. The acidity is fresh and balanced with the medium soft tannins. The fruit is well integrated with the high 14.9% abv (approach with caution on that second glass).
Pair roast duck with raspberry sauce, deer burgers, venison medallions, herb crusted roast leg of lamb or as I did, braised pork loin with prunes and port.
