Memories Revisited: Lost Oak Winery Tempranillo and Merlot
Wines and memories are the perfect match. It’s been over five years since 2009, but I remember the day like it was yesterday. It was a warm Sunday afternoon and I was in Burleson, Texas, just south of Fort Worth at Gene Estes’s family-run Lost Oak Winery. I was in the barrel room where Gene and I tasted some of his winemaker Jim Evan’s handiwork.
The wines included their soon-to-be-bottled Texas High Plains Tempranillo, rich and red-black in color. Though still not a finished wine, that Tempranillo had appealing color, a smoky aroma and a scent of rich ripe cherries. This tasting was clear evidence that this Tempranillo was destined for high marks, which it later received: gold medals at the Dallas Morning News and San Francisco International Wine Competitions.
The more we tasted that afternoon, the more Gene made his way rack-to-rack through the barrel room. Finally, he thieved another wine just as memorable, a barrel sample of Merlot from Jet Wilmeth’s high plains Diamante Doble Vineyards in Tokio, Texas. As he held up the wine-filled thief, Gene looked my way and said, “Look! This’s inky dark stuff, isn’t it?”
These are good memories of two very well made wines. One of the better things imaginable is, over half a decade later, I’m savoring them again and YOU CAN TOO!
This time it’s the Lost Oak Winery 2014 Texas High Plains Tempranillo, Bingham Family Vineyards, and the Lost Oak Winery 2014 Double Diamond Merlot, again vineyard-designated Jet Wilmeth’s Diamante Doble Vineyards.
Lost Oak Winery 2014 Tempranillo, Texas High Plains, Bingham Family Vineyards
This wine is a blend of 83% Bingham Family Vineyards Tempranillo combined with 17% of their Petit Sirah. The grapes were crushed and fermented using a “small-lot”, hand-crafted style in harvest bins for 10 days. The wine was then pressed and aged in American oak for 10 months.
The wine offers aromas of ripe red fruit, mainly black cherry, combined with the leather, toasted oak and vanilla. The aromas turn into magic on the palate where the black cherry explodes and melds with the wine’s exciting and titillating tannic structure.
Gene Estes and winemaker Jim Evans agree that this is one of their best Tempranillos. While still young, the wine’s got a rich bouquet, intense color and a smooth long finish.
Lost Oak Winery 2014 Texas Double Diamond, Texas High Plains, Diamonte Doble Vineyards
For this wine, the Merlot grapes were harvested and transported to Lost Oak Winery where they were topped with 15% Merlot from Bingham Family Vineyards. After crush, the wine was fermented for 10 days on their skins. Delestage (rack and return) was performed daily to aerate the wine, soften astringent tannins and extract and stabilize the wine’s color. The wine was then pressed and aged in French oak for 12 months.
The wine offers dark purple color and a full-bodied, classic new-world Merlot experience with dark cherry, red plum, a smooth, well rounded mouthfeel, and a long finish. According to Gene Estes, “This is perhaps our best Merlot! Right up there with our 2003 Lone Oak and 2007 Double Diamond Merlot. Winemaker Jim Evans and I think it’s a fruit bomb! The grapes in this wine were harvested at exactly the right moment by two of our most reliable growers.”
Gene, you know what? Based on memories of our great barrel room tasting at Lost Oak Winery in 2009 and my recent tasting of these new wines, I agree with your assessment, one-hundred percent.
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Lost Oak Winery
2116 FM 731 (also called 2116 John Jones Drive)
Burleson , Texas 76028
For more information, click here.
We are featuring Lost Oak Wines in our first Wine Smackdown! Texas vs. the World, this Thursday, February 25th 7 pm. Checkered Past Winery, Wine Pub, in Dallas. Fun event to showcase Lost Oak Tempranillo, Merlot, Blanc du Bois and Viognier. 3 judges in blind tasting. All other can try 8 wines in flight for $15.