Y Rousseau Tannat Clarksburg 2019

Blueberry, Blackberry Jam, Milk Chocolate, Clove, Pipe Tobacco

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"Tannat is a variety that is rarely found in the vineyards of California but is famous as the base of the wines from the Madiran region in Southwest France. By coincidence, Yannick was born and raised in the nearby Gascogny region and is quite familiar with the variety. His first job was working for Chateau Montus, the premier winery in the region.

After finishing his masters degree in oenology in France, Yannick was recruited to come to Napa Valley by Newton Vineyards. They were just launching their “unfiltered” program, which was the subject of Yannick’s thesis paper. He then moved on to Chateau Potelle and was head winemaker there for a few years. When that winery was sold to the Jackson family, he decided it was time to launch his own label. We have also featured his Son of a Butcher wine in this club a couple of times. Recently, I helped facilitate Yannick finding a new distributor in Florida, and as a thank you he extended a nice discount to us so we could feature his Tannat in the club.

For those of you who drink wine for the health benefits, you are going to love Tannat. The variety is often described as the “healthiest” wine grape, due to the high level of tannins and anthocyanins, or antioxidants. Tannat has been planted in California since the 1940s, but has only recently become popular. As of 2018, there were 637 acres planted, with almost half going in the ground in the last five years. The most visible advocate for the variety is Tablas Creek in Paso Robles, which successfully lobbied for wines to be labeled Tannat in 2005. The grapes for Yannick’s bottling come from a certified sustainable vineyard in the Clarksburg area.

Many producers who make wine in Madiran soften the tannins of Tannat using a technique called micro-oxygenation. Without getting too technical, this is basically a process where oxygen is bubbled through the wine during and just after fermentation, which has the effect of making the wine taste less tannic. I should note that Yannick feels that micro- oxygenation is a gimmick and prefers to soften the tannins in Tannat using classic methods of extended skin contact, barrel aging and racking." - Tim Varan