This is the right way to start the year – with a wine I like.

Wes ‘Dodgy’ Pearson’s 2013 reds are easily his best yet – and this Mataro is on the money. Good year for Vale Grenache and Mataro too.

Sourced from the Sellicks foothills, this is a blend of 87% Mataro with 13% co-fermented Grenache, given a decent pre and post ferment maceration before maturation in old oak and bottled fined and unfiltered. According to Wes this fruit ‘usually goes into my GSM but it was too good so I left it alone’. 

What I like about this Mataro is the lack of excess. There’s a real blackberry juiciness, but the extraction and ripeness are quite moderate. Indeed in the Vale mode this is quite refreshing in its acidity and lack of alcohol heat, that classic black jube and home-brand cola young Mataro fulness, countered with savoury blackness and fine tannins.

The whole shebang is mighty approachable, yet real. It’s perhaps a little simple in a mid weight form, but not lacking in power.

Yes.