Featured Wine

RARITY

There’s much to be said about rarity. Every once in a great while, a wine presents itself that is in a class of its own simply because of the fact that no one else is quite making anything like it.

The reality of this particular wine is that only thirty-seven cases of it ever made it into the world. That is well shy of any sort of commercial feasibility. This was a labor of love. By luck and insistence, one of the handful of cases that made its way to Southern California landed in this restaurant.

This is a wine unlike any that I have had the pleasure to taste. Unique in its upbringing, color, nose, and taste; this is a rarity.

A copper laced pink tint fights its way along the color spectrum debating whether it should land on a red, white, or pink designation. It happens that this wine is a blend of white varietals made the way one would make a red wine. Or, more appropriately it was fashioned in a manner that calls back ancient traditions. Contrary to modern wine-making conventions, the folks up at Francis Tannahill harvested Oregon Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc, and Chardonnay and left them to macerate together on their skins until the Easter following harvest. This is a practice possibly only also seen in certain vineyards in Slovenia or Friuli and certainly unheard of in the Pacific Northwest.

The result is a White with the depth and complexity of a Red and the color of a Rosé.

Aromatic and precise, the nose begs descriptors such as white flowers, Grand Marnier, and gun metal. But, to tell the truth, placing descriptors on this wine is akin to diluting the experience—especially once you find out the wine was bottled as an homage to a dear old friend of the winemakers.

If you are a fan of dry and aromatic and a bit esoteric wines, take a chance on this one:


2004 Francis Tannahill “Jack” White Wine 66