2012 Cline Cashmere Red Wine

2012 Cline Cashmere

Varietal:  35% Mourvedre; 24% Syrah; 23% Grenache; 18% Petite Sirah
Region:  California – USA
Cost:  $18 (SRP)

Winemaker’s Notes:  Cashmere is a very flavorful, smooth wine offering big cherry, raspberry, and chocolate notes with hints of cracked black pepper and plum. Pairs well with grilled salmon, pork roast, or duck.

My Review:  Red blends can be a bit tricky for me – either one grape is really dominant or none of them are and they all just blend together into a generic “red fruit” mess. I’ll admit that going into tasting the 2012 Cline Cashmere I was a bit worried since Mourvedre was the largest percent of the blend, and it’s not a grape I tend to gravitate towards. I was, however, pleasantly surprised by this wine.

In the glass the wine was a nice dark reddish purple and on the nose I picked up raspberry and chocolate notes. In the mouth those flavors continued, with the chocolate in particular being quite noticeable. We slightly chilled the wine while making dinner, which I think helped to smooth out some of the cracked black pepper notes and bring some of the plum into play as well.

We paired the wine with salmon, but instead of grilling it we broiled it in the oven with a herb and mustard crust on it that, at least to me, had the effect of highlighting the chocolate notes of the wine. The bright raspberry notes and smooth chocolate on the back end of the wine made it enjoyable both with dinner and after.

I’ll admit that I liked this wine more than I thought I would. While I wouldn’t go so far as to call it a favorite or something I personally will rush out to buy, if I was at a dinner and this was one of the options, I wouldn’t shy away from it.

Editor’s Note: I received this wine as a free sample for review.

About George Perry 895 Articles
A wine lover for as long as I can remember, I hope that my thoughts on wine can help others to make decisions on what they should drink as well.