The Sparkman 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon Kingpin – sourced from Klipsun and Kiona with 8% Petit Verdot from Double Canyon – is dominated by almost ferociously intense, gum-numbing tannins that are more than a match for its equally mouth-coating dark berry fruit. Salt, stone, black olive, and game add undeniably complexity but the upshot is neither juicily, sweetly fruited nor mouthwatering in its persistence. Its authors write “burly” and compare the overall effect of this wine to hearing Led Zeppelin. That makes sense as far as it goes, but understates the case. The brave may want to cellar some of this but I’m skeptical that time will tame its tannins, and the gamey aspect of the wine wants watching.
Chris Sparkman is among the numerous former sommeliers and wine buyers to end up as a Western U.S. vintner. His wife and fellow-vintner Kelly’s background in biology was not with plants, much less vines. They started their Woodinville winery in 2004 to achieve a life style conducive to raising their two daughters and were able to immediately benefit from personal contacts in the viticultural community to tap-into some of Washington’s foremost vineyards. The results I tasted were (in red) dominantly cooked-fruit without being seamlessly ripe, as well as unremittingly – at times downright ferociously, and almost surely superfluously – tannic, a characteristic that evidently wasn’t mitigated and might even have been exacerbated by the Sparkmans’ practice of early lees-stirring and relatively long elevage. Given how much at odds I am with glowing received opinion about this young winery’s accomplishments, I must in fairness call readers’ attention to that fact, as well as encourage them to consult next year’s report to see whether I determine that I was being too hard on these wines or that they (or the taster) were having a bad day (actually hour) this July.
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