Cloudburst Tasting

 When you have a perfect vineyard site, very small production, and a strong desire to make outstanding wine, you have a good head start. I have described the background of Cloudburst in previous posts. I only mention here that the vineyard is densely planted and bio-dynamically farmed. The focus here is on a rare tasting of a number of these wines.

It started with Chardonnay. First up, the 2020 Cloudburst Chardonnay. I taste Meyer lemon, white peach and wood spice from the very noticeable new French oak. The wine is very clean and fresh, with acidity in good balance. This is typical Chardonnay fruit. All very nice, but not a lot of character (93/+ points). The 2017 is similar. It is a bit more lemon focussed, with the oak even more pronounced (93/+ points). It gets more interesting with the 2014 Chardonnay. This is a more opulent wine with more fruit focus: pineapple, apricot, a bit of lemon. This wine starts to show a bit of age (95/++ points). The wines are closed with screw cap, as opposed to the reds. I ask myself, with the attention to detail, maybe a cork closure would serve these wines better (see Giaconda), as the maturing is very slow.

The labels have golden lettering, only Cloudburst on the front

Now we move to the reds, Malbec first. The 2018 Malbec is quite fruity, but with a lot of energy. Black cherry and plum deliver flavours which are very pure, and the finish is silky and medium to long (95++ points). But this wine is overshadowed by the 2017 Malbec. This is a more complex wine with more savoury notes, such as mushroom, and a very long finish. This wine came close to the wine of the night and was loved by all (96/+++ points). 

The labels are hard to read, and even harder to photograph

The first Cabernet Sauvignon (they include a small Malbec percentage) is the 2019. Red- and blackcurrant deliver a satisfying mouthfeel. There are savoury flavours as well. The tannins are fine and the finish seems to expand (94/++ points). The 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon is a darker expression. Blackcurrant and mulberry flavours are balanced by beautifully fine grained, silky and lacey tannins. The finish is very long (97/+++). This was the wine of the night. Finally, the 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon. This is a bigger and more developed wine. Blackcurrant and mulberry flavours are soft, and a little sweet. Meat and charcoal flavours add complexity, but the finish is only medium (95/++). 

The most interesting aspect of the tasting was that not one wine was a disappointment. It is another question if you need to shell out $250/bottle to have this kind of quality experience.