2013 Happy Canyon Red - Westerly Wines

Black licorice liqueur, pipe tobacco, blueberry reduction. Blackberry pie filling, pulverized lavender, silky crème de cassis. Baking chocolate and vanilla extract, star anise and squid ink. Chewy, saturated, teeth-staining black fruit converges with dark roast coffee and crushed velvet in a fearless full-throttle assault. Eucalyptus and dried basil are stomped mercilessly into coarse gravel by a freight train of power and structure. Dark, dense, brooding, and bold. This 2013 Happy Canyon Red by Westerly Wines is an unapologetically opulent Bordeaux Blend from Santa Barbara.

The Happy Canyon appellation of Santa Barbara County is one of the most interesting young growing regions for Bordeaux varieties in California. Warm days, cool nights, and gravely mineral-rich soils have converged here to create near ideal terroir for winegrowing. This bottling, crafted by Westerly Wines from a unique blend of all 5 major Bordeaux grapes, is a wonderful example of the power that the region is capable of. This wine is masculine and muscular directing its focus to its rich ripe fruit. Simultaneously plush and structured this is initially soft and mouth-coating followed quickly by a blast of satin tannin and clean acidity. Stylistically modern and well-constructed, this is the perfect bridge bottle for those looking for Napa hedonism without the corresponding price tag. Westerly has put together an impressive left bank style Bordeaux blend here.