2021 Extradimensional Wine Co. Yeah! Family Band Red, California.
One of the wildest and most fun wine I tasted with Hardy Wallace of Extradimensional Wine Co. Yeah! was his almost Cru Beaujolais like Family Band Red Wine, which is a mad scientist’s blend comprised of 50% Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel, 35% Mendocino Old Vine Grenache and 15% Wild Horse Valley Chardonnay (skin fermented), but of which everything folds together in a brilliant and seamless fashion, making for a dark colored, juicy red fruited and spicy wine to eagerly quaffed. In a month where a lot of focus is on promoting and enjoying American wine, I cannot imagine a better and more California wine than what Wallace makes here at his Sonoma based Extradimensional Wine Co. Yeah! Winery and his fabulous set of organic and naturally styled wines. This Family Band Red, is, as described by winemaker Hardy Wallace, a wine is a warm wooly vintage Pendelton blanket with the just right amount of stimulating scratch. Juicy. Toe Tapping exuberance as you are held in the delightful puzzle of, how can this be both pure and raw and beautifully sophisticated at the same time. Well, translated by me, the Family Band Red is jazzy and has a medium bodied palate that revolves around black raspberry, wild plum, candied cherry and tangy red currant fruits, all accented by fennel, dusty cinnamon, crushed lilacs, clove spice, cigar box, old cedar and orange marmalade. Serve this slightly chilled and with BBQ fixings and or pork chops, this wine gets smoother and deeper with air and while having nice crisp acidity, there is lots of textural pleasure here and can be a fine afternoon sipper too.
As I’ve said before, Hardy Wallace is one of the most gentle, flamboyant and intriguing personalities in the world of California wine and his Extradimensional Wine Co. Yeah! is an awesome label that marries old world traditions with way out there experimentation, as seen in his crazy blends, like this Family Band red that has Zinfandel, Grenache and Skin fermented Chardonnay! Then there is Wallace’s deep dive into orange wines, with his 2021 Close Encounters being a phenomenon all its own, skin contact Chenin, Chardonnay and Viognier, that rivals anything I’ve ever had in the weird and wacky world of orange wines. The more standard stuff now includes a set of Bordeaux varietals, of which I was the most in impressed with his Santa Cruz Mountains Cabernet Franc, that I wrote about last month, but the quality of the Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon will surprise fans of these grapes as well! The all new Carignan was another personal fav, again I loved its soulful transparency, lively nature and its pleasure on the palate. Getting this far into talking about Hardy and not gush about his Mourvèdre bottlings, all of which come from outstanding and historic sources. Again, I highly recommend visiting Hardy’s tasting room in downtown Sonoma, where I tasted through his winter set of wines, which included some fantastic and more serious efforts, like his incredible Old Vine Grenache and Old Vine Carignane, along with those mentioned Bordeaux inspired Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot bottlings. Wallace, who is a Mourvèdre freak, once part of Dirty & Rowdy, also has some Bandol inspired wines and those are his signature wines, though you’ll need to join his wine club and mailing list to get a chance at those, as there is a fanatic cult like following for them, so it is best to get signed up.
($45 Est.) 92 Points, grapelive