2018 Darow Series Tempranillo
Our oldest planting of Tempranillo, from 2009, gave us exquisite fruit in 2018. Following fermentation with our indigenous vineyard yeasts we settled the juice to a mix of proprietary French oak casks and got to work evaluating the wines, which proved to be an exercise in patience as the wines matured more slowly than we have ever experienced. The wine finally allowed a small blending to fine-tune the acidity and structure, but the core of black berry preserves, cassis, turned wet earth, fig, and tobacco aromas leaves no doubt as to this wine’s varietal identity. On the palate the dark berry, black cherry, chocolate, and freshly tanned leather flavors barely peek out from behind the massive tannin structure. Fine balanced and delineated, this has the concentration and elegance to live in a cool cellar for the next 6-9 years then open up for enjoyment from 2025-2035. Our thoughts run to pepper-crusted double-cut lamb chops with rosemary-fig gastrique and grilled fennel.
| Appellation | Rogue Valley |
| Alcohol | 14.30% |
| Volume | 750 ml |
| Cases Produced | 254 |
| Country of Origin | UNITED STATES |
| State of Origin | Oregon |
| Artificially Carbonated | No |
| Sparkling Wine | No |
BevX.com: 97 points; “Brilliant, dark ruby/scarlet color. The aromatics are intense, offering scents of boysenberry, earth, and dried herbs with supporting notes of mineral, red currant, wild blackberry, and cigar box. The palate echoes the nose delivering a black and red-fruits-driven core with flavors of cassis, dark chocolate, blackberry jam, and slate. The finish is long and lingering with ripe tannins. Full=bodied and perfectly balanced with an opulent texture and an alluring sapidity.” – BevX.com Sean Ludford
Although part of the Rogue Valley AVA, the 2Hawk Estate Vineyard lies in an area known locally as the Bear Creek sub-basin. The two-layered bedrock beneath our soils consists of a shallow volcanic layer, the Roxy Formation, and a deeper, softer layer of alluvial sandstone, The Payne Cliffs Formation. The Klamath Mountains uplifting event, roughly 20 million years ago, began a long erosion process that resulted in our predominately volcanic soils, which are unique to the Rogue Valley AVA. An area of cobbled river rocks in our eastern section and a sandy streak of considerably younger colluvial deposit running through the center of our vineyard site distinguish 2Hawk from neighboring vineyards. Overall, we have some of the oldest soils in the valley and they are characterized as shallow silty- to clayey-loams that are moderately well drained with moderate to rapid runoff.
