The 2006 Chalone Vineyards Condor from The Pinnacles is 69% Syrah and 31% Grenache. The color is a light to medium garnet with some brickiness on the edges. The nose is somewhat restrained with dark fruit and earthiness. Plenty of acid and light smooth tannins. The flavor is dark fruit, leather, moist earth. Reminds me of a Rhone wine only more fruit forward. We are going to have this with BBQ’d ribs, (BBQ low and slow, not grilled) Cole Slaw and Portuguese beans. I’ll update this after dinner to let you know how they paired.
The wine paired well with the ribs and beans. They subdued the fruit a little so there was a little more complexity in the wine. If you are wondering about the name of this wine, Condor, it is a tribute to the California Condor which lives in the area. For every bottle sold Chalone Vineyard donates $5.00 to a fund to help the survival of the birds.
They never seem to pour it at the picnic. I remember one time, I think the first year we went they had it but never again.
Better get any Moon Mountain you want whenever Founders Club has a sale now. Diageo sold it to private buyers so when they run out there won’t be any more. The Moon Mountain web site doesn’t say much about what is going on.
Pete, I hadn’t heard of this wine from Chalone. Interesting stuff. Alice and I bought a case of Moon Mountain 2007 Zin from that final sale, and we’ve been digging the black cherry/blackberry earthiness…