Recommended Cellar Candidate!
Some of my wine friends have impressive collections of wine. After accumulating a few hundred bottles of wine, you will reach the point where you are not going to have enough time to drink all that wine. You are creating a legacy, an inheritance. And I hope you are choosing wisely.
If you are beginning a wine cellar, you have the luxury of knowing each bottle and hopefully remembering which ones to drink when. If you are adding on to a large cellar of wine, it is likely you will ignore or forget about some of your many bottles. So you want bottles which should age gracefully.
Note: I know people who only share bottles of wine with others, after they've peaked and faded away! "Hey, here's a bottle of 1999 Merlot. It's no longer showing well. And I've got a case of it. Enjoy." Don't be that kind of wine collector. Share your good wines with others. Like my good wine friends do.
The Mullan Road Cellars 2014 Red Wine, is today's wine cellar candidate. It has potential to age gracefully for at least the next 10 years. At least I think it will. There are no guarantees. So buy a case or two, and open a bottle every couple of years to see how the vintage is doing. When it tastes AMAZING that is the time to drink and share with me.
 |
| Mullan Road Cellars 2014 Red Wine showed better decanted. |
Tasting Notes
Color: Deep ruby.
Nose: Smoke, leather, sandalwood, dried cherries, steel and graphite, touch of dried orange peel, cinnamon, medium intensity.
Palate: Medium body, medium plus acid, medium plus intensity, very dry, medium tannin, tart and sour, dirty, gravel, currant, pie cherry, medium minus finish dropped out, did not linger.
At 30 minutes: Focused red fruit, bright, textured on tongue, cranberry on a pretty medium finish. Like.
At one hour: Sour, earthy, cherry, dark chocolate, bright acidity, touch of heat, medium body, orange peel into the medium finish. Wants food.
Decanted one hour: Red fruit, dark chocolate, cranberry, pleasantly textured, medium body, bit of orange into the medium finish. Decanting helped this wine show better. Drank fuller and more flavorful, toned down the acid and sourness. Still wants food.
After three hours: More integrated, liked more.
Day two: Black cherry, licorice, hint of tomato, orange peel, cigar box, leather, medium plus intensity on the nose. Dry and drinkable, cherry, blackberry, chocolate into licorice, textured on the tongue, tingle of acid, medium plus intensity, medium finish. Much better. Yum.
Paired with grilled chicken, spicy seasoning and salad with tomatoes, wine matched well.
Day three: Caramel, taffy, spice, resin, dried flowers and cherries on nose. Big flavor, prune, dried cherry and blueberry, bitter earth, dark chocolate, dry, fine tannin, with instant coffee into medium finish. Interesting, showed best on day three. Tastes like end of the line and smells like an import store from 1970. Those are pluses.
Steak pairing, yum!
Thoughts: This wine showed very well on day two, and was fantastic with food. By day three it was showing its true potential and was fantastic with a steak. Young wine, I believe time should see this vintage evolve gracefully. If you drink now I recommend decanting. Drink 2019 - 2027.
Strongly Recommended.
 |
| Mullan Road Cellars 2014 Red Wine. |
State: Washington
AVA: Columbia Valley
Blend: 45% Cabernet Sauvignon, 38% Merlot, 14% Cabernet Franc, 3% Malbec.
Closure: Natural Cork.
ABV: 14.3%
SRP: $50
Sample provided by winery
www.mullanroadcellars.com
About
Winemaker Aryn Morell grew up in Washington state but left to study chemistry at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, and a career in chemical engineering. His path to winemaker started with Golden State Vintners, Edgewood Estates, and Silver Oak , and eventually took him to a consulting company for wineries such as Joseph Phelps, Quintessa, Chimney Rock, Chappellet, and many others.
In 2007, he was presented an opportunity to move back to Washington. In 2012, Aryn was contacted by Dennis Cakebread to see if he’d be interested in working on a new project Dennis was starting; a Bordeaux blend to be named Mullan Road Cellars.
Mullan Road Cellars sources fruit from Seven Hills Vineyard, Lawrence Vineyard and Stillwater Creek Vineyard. The 2014 vintage was warm and dry, providing ideal growing conditions for producing wines with great fruit and refined tannins. The wines show the ripeness of the warm summer days and the freshness that our cooler evenings provide.
Cheers!