Witch Creek Winery Aglianico 2011

This unusual wine was originally intended to be my Halloween post, but it will have to be Friday the 13th instead. We discovered the tasting room of Witch Creek in the town of Julian, just outside of San Diego. It was raining and a generally lovely day, and one of the best things to do, should one find oneself in just such a situation, is to secure comfort in the tasting of wines.

All the wines here are a bit unusual. Varietals that were familiar, like Aglianico, but I recall also a Montepulciano and several others I no longer remember (and a search for the tasting sheet I kept from there yielded no results--worst report ever?). We picked up a couple of blends and a bottle of their port which was light a delicious.

Only 100 cases were made of this particular vintage. So its dark fruit, but also savory notes, like sage and salt, were just...bewitching. I know, but stick with me here. The grapes were sourced from fields in Mexico and likely being so much closer to the equator, their chemical makeup was just different. All their wines were enticing and strange and exotic and alluring. They were almost like parallel universe wines. So close to a thing I know intimately and yet, just different enough to make me question my approach to tasting.

Bottom line: It cast a spell on me.