Just at the point winemakers need to lean on experience and intuition, Beau Moore realized he was a bit lost.
At a friend’s urging he had introduced a new grape to the Moore Family Winery vineyards. At the time few people knew of Charbono. The varietal was planted on less than 1,000 acres across the U.S. It attracted the interest of only a handful of devotees, and even they disagreed — still do, actually — on its name.
Whether he chose to call it Corbeau de Savoie, Douce Noir, Bonarda or Charbono, Moore was still mystified.
“We didn’t have anything to compare it to,” he recalled.
So he scoured wine shops across the country, buying as many examples of Charbono as he could find to sample.
All that research clearly paid off. The Moore Family’s 2012 Charbono is a constantly weaving tour through windowsills on which freshly baked fruit pies are cooling, dime store counters mixing chocolate malts, timeworn tobacco shops and waving fields of heather.
“It’s a lot of different things,” Moore agreed. “It’s unique.”
Even on the nose you recognize its tannic qualities, but you are soon distracted by an aromatic swirl. A milky chocolate blends into overripe berries — dark and left on the vine. Hints of smoke waft over newly opened leaves and impressions of spring. Behind this, a distant scent of curing meat and harbingers of fall.
It promises both comfort and excitement.
In other parts of the world, Charbono responds well to culling. Keeping yields down improves its complexity. In the high elevation of Lake County, however, Moore gained the same results with minimal interference, only a little extra time in American oak.
“It’s a vigorous vine — we don’t have to thin it out,” he said. “It likes our soils. The land was talking to us.”
The 2012 Charbono speaks the language of the land, certainly. European and Argentine versions share the rich, almost brooding fruits that envelope the palate. But in Moore’s wine the flavors are intense, baked down into a cobbler of blueberry and other dark berries. There are also the same impressions of light chocolate sensed on the nose. The finish is intriguing, a balance between an earthy savor and bright meadow grasses, with a crisp, acidic, almost citrusy snap.
This is, in other words, a wine that grabs your attention, engages you throughout, provides some thrilling moments and leaves with a warm embrace.
Could you ask more from a glass?
Moore believes Charbono will quickly attract more of a following. The market is opening up to once niche varietals, and aficionados love to introduce others to unfamiliar grapes. He cites Malbec as an example. A decade ago, only Moore Family and Ceago promoted Malbecs out of Lake County.
“We’re really happy with it,” Moore said. “Charbono might be the next big thing.”
Dave Faries can be reached at 900-2016
