Mandolin is a new wine with a new name.
Let’s start with the label. We must admit to being a bit leery of bright, shiny, overly artistic wine bottle labels with funny names designed to catch the eye of the less knowledgeable wine drinkers. What is usually behind those labels are wines that could not stand by quality alone and need the label glitz to attract buyers.
Mandolin labels are just the opposite: very plain, displaying just the name, vintage date, variety and place of origin, the bare minimum required by law and a sure sign that the wine in the bottle might be worthy of your interest. In the case of the Mandolin wines, they most certainly are.
Mandolin 2012 Central Coast Syrah ($10)Syrah wines are the current darlings of California. This earthy wine has been aged for 14 months to soften and allow the wine to gain depth and character. It's loaded with the flavors of blueberry and blackberry, backed up by a soft, spicy background. The beauty of this wine is it can accompany a huge spectrum of foods, from the darkest meats to full-flavored seafood dishes.
Mandolin 2012 Monterey County Chardonnay ($10) This wine has been made the old-fashioned way, fermented in small oak barrels to allow the full glories of the chardonnay grape to be expressed. The aroma abounds with generous amounts of apple, pineapples and just a hint of citrus, which migrate to the flavor where they mingle with lemon, grapefruit and pear. This is a wine that is much finer than its modest price indicates and a fabulous reprieve from the more expensive, look-a-like chardonnay wines that permeate our marketplace and are turning people away from the variety.
Mandolin 2012 Monterey County Pinot Noir ($12)An inexpensive pinot noir can often taste like a mixture of gasoline and fertilizer, but this wine is a total contradiction. A good California pinot noir is very hard to find and a decent one for under $25 is almost impossible. The Mandolin vintners have produced a wine that coaxes the full capabilities out of this very temperamental grape. The flavor and aroma are jam-packed with sour cherry, raisins, dried herbs and mushrooms. This wine is a great introduction to the glories of pinot noir wines if you have never sampled one.
Mandolin 2013 Monterey County Riesling ($12)Thank you Mandolin vineyards for resurrecting a variety that has been pushed into the background for too many years. During the 1960s, riesling was king, but the advent of the blush zinfandel resulted in riesling wines being almost forgotten. This resurrected version of that once popular variety is a dynamic wine that accentuates all of the fruit flavors the riesling grape can deliver without being objectionably sweet. This gem allows flavors that are often masked by too much fruit sugar to shine through. A lemon character runs through the flavor and aroma, along with that of apricots, peaches and raisins. The aroma has a jasmine quality about it, as well as a suggestion of violets. According to the Mandolin vintners, it is the ultimate wine to accompany crab dishes, as well as fish and Asian foods.
Mandolin 2012 Central Coast Cabernet Savignon ($10)If you are a wine enthusiast, you definitely are familiar with the taste and aroma of cabernet savignon. 2012 was a good year for U.S. Central Coast cabernet savignons, and the grapes picked resulted in a wine with exceptional aromas and flavors. The aroma displays cherry and blackberry right up front and seems to fill the room when the cork is pulled. The flavor is as big and expansive as the aroma and is loaded with cassis, spice and a dusty mushroom flavor in the background. All in all, this is a well-made, full-flavored wine that takes second place to none in or around its price range.
Nixa resident Bennet Bodenstein is a wine columnist and manages ArticlesOnWine.com. He can be reached at frojhe1@att.net.
