Listening to Chacewater winemaker Mark Burch, one might easily imagine his 2013 Malbec curled up in a lair, grumbling and poised to strike.
The wine, set to be released with a party and music festival at the Kelseyville facility on Saturday, resides in Chacewater’s Black Label collection. They named it Krev, a Cornish word translating to “mighty” and “robust.”
Describing it, Burch adds more contemporary terms — “big,” “powerful,” but also “youthful.” The last is a reference oenophiles recognize as shorthand for a wine to buy now and shelve for later.
“It’s a little tight now, but it’s going to be around awhile,” he pointed out. “In a year it will be a blockbuster.”
Even now the young Malbec shows signs of its intent. The limited production Krev yearns to flex, to shoulder its path across the palate, to bombard with flavor and then slink away, content in its strength. Yet there is something more graceful in its make up — a worldliness, a respect for old world manners.
It is evident on the nose, where bands of curing tobacco drape over weathered cedar impress you before the first indication of fruit. When it comes, ripe blackberry yields to an earthier note, akin to fig. Behind this, rests a hint of cracked leather.
“That’s that time in wood,” Burch explained.
The Chacewater Black Label Malbec matures in French oak for 22 months. Burch soothed the varietal with a splash — 3 percent — of Cabernet Sauvignon, then ramped up the fury again with 2 percent Petit Verdot. The treatment lends a tannic structure that will allow the wine to age.
But it’s a heady experience now. Worn leather, English pipe tobacco and a notion of earth and tattered pages set you in a manor library before a load of blackberry and black plum arrives. A brighter fruit dances around the edge — red currant, lightening the mood. On the finish, red cherry with the pit emerges as the flavors begin to wane.
Despite its apparent youth, the Krev is an intricate wine. The profile is more suited to the rare single varietal Malbecs of Bordeaux than the more lighthearted new world versions.
And yet you know it will only grow in power — and in sophistication.
“It’s a wine where you can pull out a bottle every four months,” Burch said. “You won’t be disappointed.
Dave Faries can be reached at 900-2016”
