2023 Spanish Cowboy
Sierra Foothills
Tasting Notes
This easy drinking blend expresses fruit notes of boysenberry and plum balanced by earthier elements, chocolate, baking spices, and graham cracker due to the lovely marriage of zinfandel and tempranillo. You’ll taste soft but thick, lush tannins up front with fruit-forward ripe cherry flavors rounding out the sensual finish of this medium-full bodied wine.
Winemaking Notes
Zinfandel grown throughout the Sierra Foothills often reaches a perfect balance of lush and ripe flavors while also retaining enough acidity to result in a juicy and infinitely drinkable finished wine. That is when the Zinfandel for this vintage of the famous Spanish Cowboy was picked. The flavors of this wine were intensified by immediately pulling a portion of free run juice out of the lot at crush. Like making tea with less water, this method creates a higher skin to juice ratio which extracts more flavor and color into the resulting wine. The tempranillo component in this blend adds nuances of rugged earthiness and jammy fruit. Tempranillo ripens early and the usually dry and moderate temperatures we experience during harvest season in the Sierra Foothills allow tempranillo to hang on the vine and develop a rich flavor profile. That is when the tempranillo in this blend was picked. These wines were fermented separately and then blended together in the perfect ratio to achieve the celebrated Spanish Cowboy flavor profile.
Aging
The unique oak selection for this wine plays such an important role in the Spanish Cowboy; 75% French oak imparts nuances of baking spice and chocolate while 25% American oak enhances a lush, creamy and fruit forward mouthfeel.
Drink now through 2028.
Food Pairing
Spanish Cowboy begs for grilled or smoked meats and classic sides like baked beans! A grilled steak is always a great choice, and we also love this with burgers with gorgonzola or caramelized onions. The classic flavors of chorizo or chicken molé both pair perfectly! For a lighter pairing, try tostadas with grilled shrimp, avocado, and chipotle aioli. For your charcuterie boards aged cheddar and Spanish chorizo pair well, as does an appetizer of bacon-wrapped dates.
Accolades
90 Pts. - The Tasting Panel
Silver Medal - Lone Star International Wine Competition
Wine Specs
70% Zinfandel, 25% Tempranillo, 5% Petite Sirah
14.8% alcohol
2,900 cases produced
$32 per bottle
