Oakley Road Vineyard Mataro

Once & Future is a fairly new project headed up by Joel Peterson (yes, that Joel Peterson). Alongside this Mataro (Mourvèdre), the portfolio also includes Petite Sirah, merlot, and a killer line up of zins (of course, he is a bit of a zin master). Even some use of Bedrock vineyard in tandem with his son.

I’m fairly certain this is my first 100% Mataro (Mourvèdre). The color of this wine is one of the most gorgeous shades of purple I’ve ever seen...as though it’s mixed with a faint hue of magenta. This is a wine that could almost be enjoyed by nose alone...absolutely divine. Brambly fruits, huckleberry, baked blackberries that were just freshly squeezed. Potpourri. Though “only” 14.5ABV, it feels quite less. The palate is fairly light. Lots of tart dark fruits, cardamom, baking spices and plum. Great finish. @Jake Rubash , I’ve enjoyed our convos about this wine, thanks for the info!

It’s worth noting I had this open (in bottle) for an hour or so yesterday and while the nose was there, the palate wasn’t ready. Re-corked and was much better the next day.

Excellent. Has evolved well. Beam of red fruit.

This is kick-ass royalty.

Cranberry on the nose. Plum and and a bit of strawberry on the palate. The wine is vibrant and youthful and benefits from a decant.

First of our 16's, gave it a 3hr decant and I feel like it needed more time. I think these just need to sit in bottle a bit longer to get up to the level of the '15 which we loved about 9-12 months after release. Still a lovely, juicy wine but missing the exotic spices element at the moment.

Floral, dark bramble fruit, med tannin