New Clairvaux 2013 Primativo Release Tasting

Release tasting at New Clairvaux Vineyards in Vina, CA

Yesterday, we headed over to the tasting room at New Clairvaux Vineyards to check out their new wine releases. We hadn’t been for a while thanks to me being pregnant with baby girl, and we wwere excited to see what they had going on. We tasted six wines while there, including the new 2013 Primativo release, and we wandered around a bit and took a look at the reconstruction of an 800 year old chapter house from Ovila, Spain.

The first wine we tasted was the 2013 Aimée Pinot Grigio ($22). On the nose, this wine was very green. On taste, the wine had a very distinct hay taste to it, followed by pear and apple on the finish. It was hot on the back end – and had some spice to it. It was a fine wine, but in my opinion, would benefit from some time more time in the cellar for the flavors to become more balanced.

The 2013 Syrah Rosé ($14) was next. This wine was decently good. It was dry, and reminded me of strawberry lemonade – but without any sense of sweet to that. It was smokey, as if the berries had been roasted, and had a bacon fat quality and taste to it.

Our favorite of the bunch was the 2012 St. James Tempranillo ($17). This wine had a heavy nose. Like the Syrah Rosé, the wine had a bacon fat smokey taste to it, notes of deep red fruits, paprika and cayenne pepper, and red spice. It was not overly tannic or overly alcoholed. It was chewy on the finish.

The 2012 St. James Syrah ($18), in my opinion, should have come prior to the Tempranillo in the tasting. It was just plain overshadowed by this earlier wine. This one smelled of fruit and berries on the nose. Upon tasting, it had a dry heat, and like the wine befroe it was chewy. It had dry red berries, paprika, pepper, and bell peppers. It was a tangy wine – almost like a sour patch kid without the sugar. I’m wondering if my reaction to this one was due to having had the Tempranillo just before it. I’ve liked this line in the past.

The 2012 Pour Souls Barbera ($17) was a rough Barbera, but would accompany pizza or a general pasta dinner nicely. It was light and fruity on the nose, yet big buff & robust on the taste.

The final wine of the tasting, the one that New Clairvaux was celebrating, the 2013 Napa Valley Aimée Primativo ($27) had potential. I felt it was too young to be released as the flavors were out of control. It was burnt bacon and sweet prunes, buttery, and very oak. It had a humid nose, like wet grass or mud, on the taste, it was all oak and smoke. In fact, the oak kind of got in the way of the wine. I think this will be a very good wine once it has aged longer in the bottle.

After the tasting, we wandered around and looked at the reconstruction project. I took a bunch of pictures. I figured I would go ahead and post them here for you to enjoy. It’s gorgeous, and my images don’t do it justice.