Mark Ryan Winery, Crazy Mary, Red Mountain

Decanted for three hours. Red fruit and anise nose. Silky palate with a good weight of red fruit and a candied cherry with a hint of pepper. Finish hits a bit hot with raisins and cherry lingering. Drinking well now, maybe a couple years more.

Friends brought this to our 7/12/14 brisket dinner / Mourvedre tasting. It had a rich, powerful and earthy bouquet of plum, blueberry, loam, spice and smoke aromas. The palate was rich, dense and dry with flavors of plum, blackberry, blueberry, dirt, pepper and spice.

No formal notes

This is a very dark Washington state wine, deep ruby and opaque. The nose shows dark fruit, loam, chocolate, leather and spices. The mouth feel is full bodied with a velvety sweet fruit and vanilla, nice layers of acid, fruit and tannin leading into very extended finish. The Mourvedre is a really nice accompaniment to red meats and heavier fair but very drinkable on its own. A more extended aeration will produce more smoked meat and deeper loam fragrances.

Tart raspberry and high acidity on initial taste, earthy finish. Some described as smoky. Yum.

Smokey and dusty earth. Dark berries, currant. Nice mellow, drawn out finish. Probably would be killer with some lamb.