Woodrose WineryWinery 2012

Woodrose has been one of our favorite growing wineries over the past several years.  This year’s visit provided some unexpected pleasures.  The last time we visited at Woodrose they were just completing construction on their special events building.  This time we found the center was done and open for business.  Tastings were going on in the event building the day we arrived because they were rocking that day and needed the room.  We were quickly whisked to a table in the corner with tasting menu in hand.
Woodrose

Winery has three tasting flights to choose from:  Mike’s Flight, a Red Flight, and for you sweet drinking wine lovers, a Sweet Flight. Each wine tasting flight is value priced at just $7 for the flight of six wines.
We decided to do two separate tastings and share so we could sample a greater variety of the 21 wines available on their extensive list.  What better way than to get your pallet into overdrive than trying 12 wines in an hour!  We selected the Mike’s Flight and the Red Flight.

Mike’s Flight:

2010 Barrel Aged Chenin Blanc – You can tell the French oak mellows out the profile making this is nice, soft wine. It holds lots of orange blossom and lemongrass in the back notes. We tasted a bit of apple and maybe a hint of apricot as well.
2009 Blanc Du Bois – A very aromatic wine with honeysuckle and mandarin oranges. This is what the tasting notes of the winemaker promised and it delivered a big flavor profile of both. Would be great served lightly chilled as a summer sipper.
2008 Texas Rain – A dry blush made with 89% Zinfandel and 11% Blanc du Bois. It has a dry nose and tastes of  honey blended with light strawberries and a hint of orange in the background.
2009 Zinfandel – With aromas of light rose petals blended with smoked oak this wine had a really nice nose. On the finish the notes suggest a dried plum which delivers. In the front is more of the typical black plum and cherry but it’s light with soft tannins. A nice light body wine with a lighter color to match.
2008 Seven – A blend of 50% Cabernet Sauvignon and 50% Zinfandel  this wine has none of the smoke of the Zinfandel above, but shows off the light strawberries of the Zinfandel and a little pepper finish from the Cabernet Sauvignon. Not as big of a wine as I thought it would be as it has a soft vanilla on the nose under the fruit and is complex but not harsh or overly tannic.
2010 Cabernet Sauvignon – The grapes for this wine come from the area at Lindig farms. Lots of plum on the nose, with a palate of plum, cherry and with a hint of smoke in the far back. It’s not as big as you may expect and not highly tannic or peppery. A great Cabernet option that would satisfy most any red drinker.

Red Flight:

2009 Lenoir aka Black Spanish – An interesting wine to taste and smell not only the dark cherry and blackberry you expect in this varietal, but also a citrus kick of orange or grapefruit. It blends a nice acidity and makes for a nice surprise in the wine.
2009 Three Day Weekend – A blend of Tempranillo, Merlot, and Zinfandel varietals which brings promises of cherries, cassis or blackberry, and jammy fruits that come in the palate. The nose was deceiving as it was fairly low key and I got a much less aromatic nose than the body which was layered and softly tannin – a nice blend of all my favorite varietals.
2008 Merlot - A very dry wine that evaporated with distinct cedar in my mouth. I prefer a Merlot with more  plum, cherry, and vanilla hints typical of this varietal but this one was certainly different and an interesting manifestation of terroir.
2010 Cabernet – Syrah - The nose of this blend offers lots of smoke and the tasting brought a beautiful blending of plum and blackberry with the finish of smoke. This is due to the Missouri oak barrels they use which are a medium toast. It paired nicely with the salami on our cheese and meat plate. This was my favorite so far down the red list.
2009 Tempranillo – This was comes from high plains grapes from lost straw vineyards out of Lubbock- a nice soft body but delivers nice fruit of cherry and strawberry. It was light though and not so in your face which makes
this is new favorite because it’s not overpowering. Is medium bodied and has great cherry in the fruit.
2010 Unfiltered Syrah – The wine carried a nose full of smokiness and in the palate the smoke is right in the front with the cherry and blackberry in the back and a hint of pepper in the mid range. You can tell this is the blending wine in the Cabernet/Syrah blend but I this one the smokiness overpowers the rest of the fruit because the Syrah grape isn’t as big to hold up to the smoke.

Now that was some tasting?  So additionally my wife asked to try at the end of our tasting the 2011 Vermentino just because she was interested after reading on it in the tasting list.  In her words “ This was a Great choice”.  The Vermentino was very fruit forward with white peaches and pears yet was a dry style wine. My wife is not a sweet wine drinker but this wine is one that given its flavor profile may be that happy medium to satisfy both dry and sweeter white wine lovers.
We ended the tasting by purchasing the 2010 Chenin Blanc, the 2011 Vermentino, and last but not least, the 2009 Tempranillo.  We very well could have gone broke if we did not decide to narrow down the list.  Wine tasting is certainly a fun but expensive hobby!