2018 Halcon Vineyards, Mourvèdre, Halcon Estate Vineyard, Yorkville Highlands, Mendocino County.
Paul Gordon, vigneron here at Halcon until he sold his vineyard after bottling his 2019s, told me, a huge fan of his wines, to wait on this 2018 Mourvèdre and wow, I’m glad I did, as it has blossomed and is absolutely stunning now with a wonderful perfumed and spicy nose and an integrated full bodied palate of dark fruits and whole cluster crunch, and graced with an exquisite long finish. This deep garnet/magenta Mourvèdre signs a siren’s song from the glass with crushed violets/lilac florals, raw peppercorns, cinnamon, Amaro herbs and fennel notes that lead to the a mouthful of gripping blackberry, baked cherry, pomegranate and tart currant fruits that a velvety tannic backbone, zippy acidity, along with a savory, and ever so delicate stemmy pop. The oak, exclusively used French wood, is almost an after thought and only adds a subtle roundness to this exception ad unique California Mourvèdre. The Mourvèdre vines here at Halcon are maybe some of the rarest, in this kind of location, being what could be the coldest terroir for this varietal in the world, with Halcon’s temperatures, as Gordon noted many times to me, closely matches what Ampuis or Côte Rôtie historically sees in average, meaning that these vines are on the very edge of ripeness for Mourvèdre, but the two, and only vintages, here were sublime, tasty and heroic efforts! AsI’ve noted before Halcon’s Syrah is one of my absolute favorite California version, only rivaled by the amazing Cattleya Santa Lucia Highlands offerings by Bibiana González Rave-Pisoni, in my own opinion and for my own tastes, so it is sad that these wines are no more. I also should mention that, if you are a Rhône fan and or Syrah lover, I would search out these original Halcon wines from the 2016 to 2019 vintages, you’ll be glad you did. Gordon was inspired by Domaine Jamet in Côte-Rotie and loved that old world natural, whole cluster style, vibrant freshness and umami laced elements, like many modern Cornas and his wine ended up in that league, bravo Paul.
This 100% Mourvèdre, which Paul Gordon crafted from a tiny parcel at the Halcon Estate at 2,500 feet up above Mendocino’s Yorkville Highlands, one of California’s most dramatic terroirs, makes for an exceptional and extreme example of this grape, most commonly blended in Rhône style and maybe most famous in Bandol. These conditions with the elevation and cool long growing season made for a big challenge for Gordon, who has since retired, and who was known for his fantastic Syrah bottlings here, said to me – at times it feels like he and wife Jackie had to spend more time nurturing the one acre of Mourvèdre than the rest of their 15 acres combined! Mourvèdre, or Mataro as it is sometimes called here in California, ripens very late, but seems to thrive on the meager topsoil over the broken shales and schist allowing transparent flavors, as well as producing slightly lower natural alcohol. To ensure fruit maturity, the crop was severely limited, the Gordon’s prune their Mourvèdre rows back to 3-4 spurs per plant, which leads to just eight or so clusters per individual vine. That said, in 2017 and 2018, yields were such that Halcon was able to do a single varietal bottling, and it turned out fantastic, especially in this 2018. Usually all the Mourvèdre went into the Halcon GSM Esquisto, which had a ratio of close to 20% Mourvèdre in the final blend, along with Grenache, which also wasn’t an easy grape here, and the Syrah, which loves the place. Gordon used a healthy 50% whole-cluster fermentation, all natural yeasts, with a good extraction (maceration) and what was a high level of stem inclusion for Mourvèdre, which shows in the wine’s dynamic and vivacious personality, texture and an earthy/leathery edginess or tension on the intriguing palate. The Halcon Mourvèdre was aged over a year in neutral French 500L puncheons to promote transparency, which was gloriously achieved here. While Gordon is out of the game, the Halcon Estate still exists and has the talents of Pax Mahle behind the current efforts, so it is worth taking a look at.
($45 Est.) 95 Points, grapelive