CHANNING DAUGHTERS OVER & OVER – VARIATION 14

 

Channing Daughters Winery has done it again with their new release of Over and Over - Variation Fourteen.  Variation Fourteen is a remarkably unique wine that evolves every year.  It is an artisanal experiment and an excellent one at that.  Variation Fourteen is built from many different grapes and several old-world processes to deliver an excellent rich and complex wine that pairs very well with a roast boneless leg of Lamb.  Ripasso (Italian: Repassed) is a process where Valpolicella, while still fermenting, is passed over the Pomace of used grape skins to produce a wine richer than a traditional Valpolicella DOC but lighter than an Amarone, in effect a baby Amarone.  As the Variation Fourteen opens, the flavors of a very good Amarone come forward.  Next is the Solera (Spanish: On the ground – barrels) process which can trace its roots to the Iberian Peninsula.  The process involves ½ of the current wine to be mixed with the prior year's wine and repeated over and over through the years.  This approach imparts a slightly oxidized flavor, as found in a Port, Sherry, or Madeira wine.  Below, in addition to the traditional pictures included, is the description directly from the Channing website as it describes the complete process in detail.  In the case of Channing Daughters wine, this process has been repeated fourteen times already, and I am looking forward to batch fifteen.  The Variation Fourteen was served slightly below room temperature (64⁰F) after breathing for about 45 minutes (Figure 1).  We paired it with a Boneless Leg of Lamb (Figure 2) from Stew Leonard's and had more than enough for four people with lots of leftovers.

1 - CHANNING DAUGHTERS OVER AND OVER VARIATION FOURTEEN

2 - ROAST BONELESS LEG OF LAMB OVER READY

CHANNING DAUGHTERS OVER & OVER – VARIATION 14

FROM THE CHANNING WEBSITE

This is a ridiculously fun, fascinating, and delicious red wine!  There are people in the world making red wines with a ripasso method, and there are people in the world using a solera system of blending for some red wines, but we know of no one, other than us, who have put both together to create a distinctive and tasty red wine!  It all began with four barriques of 2004 Merlot that was taken out of the barrel and repassed over the fresh 2006 Merlot and Dornfelder fruit.  Then, the wine underwent another primary fermentation and was racked to barriques, hogsheads, and puncheons, where it underwent another Malo-lactic fermentation.  Half of the wine was taken and bottled after ten months in oak, and this was Variation One.  The other half remained in barrel until the next harvest, where it was repassed over the 2007 Merlot, Syrah, and Dornfelder fruit.  It was all repeated, and we bottled half as Variation Two.  We did this again in the 2008 harvest and bottled Variation Three.  This happened "Over and Over" again in 2009 for Variation Four and again in the beautiful, warm, dry 2010 vintage for Variation Five.  Took a year off, and the wine spent the time in barrel during the 2011 vintage, then we repassed the lot again over the 2012 vintage for Variation Six and again in 2013 for Variation Seven and again in 2014 for Variation Eight and again in 2015 for Variation Nine and again in 2016 and 2017 and 2018 and 2019 for Variation Ten, Eleven, Twelve and Thirteen and yet again in 2020 for this Variation Fourteen!  This wine has undergone fifteen primary and fifteen Malo-lactic fermentations and has in its memories of 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020 harvests.  We WILL continue to do this over & over.

Variation Fourteen is bright with dark fruit, and there is a purity of red and blackberry expression coupled with an integrated oak component this year that is remarkably sexy and alluring.  Violets, black raspberries, black pepper, black cherries, black plums, resin, prunes, and brown baking spices are the primary descriptors that come to mind in this well-balanced, dry, medium-bodied, and seamless red wine.  This is a pure and polished variation of this wine yet with a silken mouthfeel.  Yes, it does keep getting better with each new Variation.  Delicious, long, complex flavors and textures fill one's mouth and mind.  The finish is persistent and shows great complexity and intermingling of both the mature secondary characteristics and its youthful attributes.  This is a wine that reflects the old and the new, the North and the South, the warm and the cool, and provides us with something entirely different to think about and experience.  Drink this musical, lyrical wine with all manner of game birds, fatty fish, pork, veal, Lamb, grains, mushrooms, and root vegetables now and over the next decade.  Two hundred twenty-eight cases were produced.