Texas Roussanne

While wandering indecisively up and down the aisles at Spec’s on Monday, I wound up in front of the Texas wines and was reminded of an article my dad had recently sent, Battle of the Texas Roussannes, about a blind tasting of Texas Roussanes, pretty interesting read definitely worth checking out. I really hadn’t paid much attention to Texas wine in recent years (I’d had no idea that Roussanne was even being grown here) and decided that needed to change so I picked up a McPherson 2012 Roussanne and a Brennan Vineyards 2012 Lily Blend. I hadn’t had much experience with Roussanne before trying these wines, so I can’t honestly say if they were a true expression of the varietal or not, but I can say is that they were both very pretty in different ways.

McPherson Roussanne 2012: medium-bodied with notes of dried apricot, baked peach, candied lemon, honey and white flowers. Well-balanced complexity and medium acidity lead to a rich, short finish. I was actually really disappointed with this one when it was first opened, muted flavors and altogether kind of boring, but by the next day it had opened up beautifully and wound up being my favorite of the two.

Brennan Vineyards Lily 2012: a blend of 59% Roussanne, 23% Viognier and 18% Grenache. Medium-bodied with notes of apricot, roasted pineapple, canned peaches, butterscotch, ginger and caramel. Medium complexity and acidity that creeps up on you before being flattened by the creamy finish. It was very nice when first opened, but by the next day the butterscotch and caramel had started to overpower everything else. It was still drinkable, but not quite as enjoyable as before.

Just so I can end this on a completely random note: My dogs are more wine savvy than your dog.