Adamant Cellars Tempranillo Winemaker's Select

Beautiful with black fruit, spice, and damp earth on the nose, this wine starts invitingly. Palate is soft in a merlot-like way with balance and poise. Black fruit, earthy minerality, espresso, black licorice, and a slightly-salty version of baking spices rise up from the wine. Finish is long. This wine is beautiful while staying meaty, showing development and fruit in nice balance.

Came out of the bottle a bit disjoined at first. Otherwise: nice nose - I just couldn't get past the sour-cherry, one note element it offered.

Medium garnet color. Expressive nose of spicy cherry, traces of toast, clove, cool and fragrant. Taste is not thin, rich and expressive, with an easy finish, probably due to 30 months in barrel. Hints of earthy jam present in any Walla Walla wine, but levity in the finish is refreshing, showing a wine made with care. Bravo.

This juice might just make me a Tempranillo fan. It's got that midpalate explosion with a finish that lingers nicely.

Spring Release 2010. First vintage of this wine. Spectacular. Extremely complex, rich, bold, delicious. Pleasant tannins and all sorts of cherry, toast, tea, cedar, clove flavors. A real star. Winemaker feels this will hold for 10 years. Brilliant first effort on this wine. 30 months in barrel really paid off.