Unti Vineyards
On Aug. 04, 2006 visited the Unti tasting room on Dry Creek Road, Healdsburg, Sonoma, which I have been visiting for years. I was particularly interested in stopping by this time because I had recently opened a 2000 Syrah from Unti, and was surprised that with some maturation, the wild Unti beast can be tamed.
Unti Vineyards
4202 Dry Creek Road
Healdsburg, CA 95448
707-433-5590
Unti wines, especially the Syrahs and the Sangioveses, tend to have a brash combination of hugely extracted fruit, with a dark and dusty mid-palate, mixed with very pronounced acidity. I know that doesn't necessarily add up to a pleasurable wine, but with a little patience, these can be quite interesting. The difficulty lies in the immediate in-approachability of these wines. I found the current offerings very difficult to get a handle on. They all had a wildness I certainly wouldn't want to put on the table now, but the gripping acids and dense charcoal-driven mid-palate may tame with age (see 2000 Syrah notes below).
Tasting Notes:
Unti Grenache 2004
Down under, this would be called a GSM, Grenache, Syrah, Mouvedre, but because there is 77% Grenache, Unti has decided to use the varietal name. It has 16% Syrah and 7% Mouvedre and the Grenache flavor is dominant. This is a gamey and spicy wine and tastes like a young Cotes du Rhone or Chateauneuf du Pape out of the barrel. This was the least complex of the wines tasted that day at Unti, and on reflection, the 2nd best of the current offering.
Unti Sangiovese 2004
Dark, smokey, and intense, this is not really my favorite style of California Sangiovese. Too big and too wild, with a rawness that I can't predict will mellow with time.
Unti Zinfandel 2003
Such a jammy wine from Sonoma. Usually this kind of blackberry bramble comes from hotter areas like Lodi or Paso Robles. This type of unctuous zin, again, is not my favorite style. In general, i've been a little disappointed with a lot of the 2003s.
Unti Syrah 2003
This was a tad off, really. Puckery green flavors dominated. Even the guy pouring in the tasting room admitted it was going through something weird in the bottle. I would say this is one to avoid.
Unti Syrah Benchland Reserve 2003 had lots of the mid-palate toasty backbone, but had brighter fruit and better chance for an afterlife. The wine was a bit clamped down, but this one may turn out to be pretty nice. But at $35.00, I didn't think it worth the risk. Certainly the best of the bunch.
Home Tasting --Unti Syrah 2000
Cocoa, black pepper, and toasted oak flavors dominate. Inky, but thinning at the edges now that it's had some time in the bottle. Took over an hour to soften up after opening. It still seems a tiny hot on the palate --not sure that will ever really fade, but I feel that finally, this wine has come into its own. It certainly has improved immensely in the 3 or 4 years or so I've held onto it.