Charles & Charles Post No. 35 Blend

Yes, I will freely admit that the stars are what first caught my eye on this label when standing in front of a zillion bottles of wine at the grocery store. WestWard has a very Americana bent, so I thought the bottle would look cool on the table. But then my mind went right to an article I had recently read about Charles Smith from K Vintners. We first tried his wine over in Walla Walla and thought it was spectacular. I also knew he had recently moved to Seattle. His K wines can be spendy, so standing in that aisle holding a bottle for 12 bucks, I was most certainly going to be taking that bottle home to try. This is a collaboration between Charles Smith and Charles Bieler, another maker we are fans of. The 2014 is a blend of 75% Cabernet Savignon and 25% Syrah. This wine is pretty darn tasty with or without food. We were supposed to be out on the island last week-end but the winds kept us away, so we enjoyed this in town with a pot roast dinner TPS made for Sunday eve. I enjoyed a glass last night while I sat in the living room and read after dinner. The stars might have initially grabbed me, but what is in that bottle for the exceptional price will certainly keep us coming back. The below description is right on, aside from the gravel & underbrush. Wine speak cracks me up sometimes. I prefer my wine gravel free. Truly yummy stuff though.

From the maker’s site:
Bold, rich and textured but not over the top – it remains wonderfully restrained and focused. Aromas of cocoa, coffee, tobacco, sweet black cherry, licorice, underbrush, gravel, and loads of cassis (fancy for black currant). It’s an intense dark blue / purple in color with tremendous purity, depth, and focus. Tannins are present giving firm structure, yet the wine is still quite soft for being so young.