I now know how my winemaker friends feel as they wait to see just how a wine they have made tastes after it has been bottled. The anticipation, wonderment, trepedation and that nagging feeling of...what if it's not...well, safe to say, the 2011 Comunicano Wine Company "Single A Cuvee" is not going to suffer from the Sophomore Jinx. Quite the opposite, it's drinking out of the bottle like a champ. Hoenstly, I think it's going to be better than the 2009 Double "AA" Cuvee. Which giving it's winning record in tastings, and how well it keeps showing is no easy feat. But it's a different wine. A very different wine.
If the 2009 with it's massive Syrah structure is very much like a Northern Rhone--St. Joseph or Crozes Hermitage, the 2011 is nothing like it. Quite the opposite, it's a Languedoc red, with the aromas and taste of a wine from Pic St. Loup. Think L'Hortus or La Roque of old. Already it's showing amazing concentration, minerality, fruit and depth. While the 09 has aromatics of olives and roasted bell peppers, the 11 is black raspberry, blueberry, wild cherry and garrigue herbs. It's also more concentrated, where the 09 is round and ripe.
The bottom line...the new 2011 made by Doug Margerum, with some help from Penfold's Grange's Assistant Winemaker Jason Barrette is no slouch. Quite the opposite, it's a tour de force.
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