Before Covid-19 stopped our ability to do tastings for the season, we were fortunate enough to visit Tantara and Labyrinth to participate in a barrel tasting of the following 2018 and 2019 offerings:

Tantara

2018 Zotovich Vineyard Chardonnay.  Coming from a sandy terroir, the Zotovich Chardonnay is focused and stony, with notes of melon, zesty lime and flowers.  It is medium-bodied, not at all heavy and finishes with reasonable length.  A very nice Chardonnay that will probably drink well on release. Tasted from 1 year-old barrel. WB 90-92.

2018 Bentock Vineyard Pinot Noir.  From Santa Rita Hills fruit, the 2018 Big Rock displays aromas of flowers, fresh herbs and ripe plums.  Medium-bodied in the mouth, with a delightful red-fruited character and a lovely mineral streak that is apparent all the way through the long and gently tannic finish.  The fruit here (100% 115 clone) was cropped at < 2 tons/acre and aged in 50% new barrels.  Needs several years, but outstanding potential here! WB 93-95.

2018 Radian Vineyard Pinot Noir.  Also hailing from Santa Rita Hills, the 2018 Radian Pinot Noir exudes a darker personality, with violets, black raspberries and hints of smoke dominating the aromatics.  In the mouth, there is good density and length, as well as a lingering spice note on the finish.  This could also use a couple of years to come together, but the potential is evident.  WB 91-93+.

2018 Hilliard Bruce Vineyard Pinot Noir.  Very pale in color, the aromatics here consist of cranberries, rosemary and a whiff of red rose.  Light- to medium-bodied on the palate, with a somewhat pinched, four-square character at the moment to go along with ample acidity.  Perhaps barrel aging will bring additional mid-palate density and better balance.  WB 88-90.

2018 Los Alamos Pinot Noir.  Aromatically funky and slightly reduced, this is difficult to assess at the moment.  There is some red fruit on the palate, but it could use more substance and better definition.  Finishes somewhat short.  A decent wine that should be ready upon release.  WB 86-88.

The 2019’s were way to young to rate effectively, however they showed to be a very precocious and  approachable at a very early part of their ageing process. Somewhat unusual at this early stage in its development. Our suggestion is that they will be early drinking wines with less needed bottle aging with scores of +1 or +2 above their 2018 counterparts.

 2019 Dierberg Vineyard Pinot Noir.  Embryonic, grapey and somewhat difficult to evaluate at this early stage.  Nevertheless, there is good density here, and a promising future.

 2019 Lindsay’s Vineyard Pinot Noir.  This is very dark, with masses of fruit but solid counterbalancing acidity.  Slightly fizzy due to fermentation, but already shows great refinement and promise.  Should be great in time!

 2019 La Encantada Pinot Noir.  Juicy, with predominantly black fruit at this stage, along with a nice floral character and good density.  A promising Santa Rita Hills Pinot.

2019 Santa Ynez Valley Syrah.  Very dark color, and equally dark fruit on the palate.  However, there isn’t much Syrah character here, at least at the moment.  Needs plenty of time, and could turn out pretty well.

Labyrinth

2018 Cabernet Sauvignon.  Hailing from the Happy Canyon area, this dark and brooding Cabernet has plenty of cassis, grilled herbs, bittersweet chocolate and minerals.  There is also serious tannic grip all the way to long finish.  Very promising. Because of its serious tannins, the score is more difficult to pinpoint, WB 91-93+

Again , the 2019’s were way to young to rate effectively, however they showed to be a very precocious and  approachable at a very early part of their ageing process. Somewhat unusual at this early stage in its development. Our suggestion is that they will be early drinking wines with less needed bottle aging with scores of +1 or +2 above their 2018 counterparts.

2019 Petite Syrah.  This juicy concoction is loaded with toast, charcoal, pepper and spiced plum notes.  Very powerful in the mouth, with massive tannin. Promising.

2019 Zinfandel.  From Arroyo Grande, this has some of the tell-tale sweetness normally found in Zinfandel, but thankfully it is somewhat subdued.  On the palate there is ripe plum, minerals and a dark character.  Good.

Once you start to understand the aging ability of certain beers, you might say does it not get better and better with age? Yes and no. There are many reasons a beer (or a wine) could be ageable:

Wood/tannin exposure before bottling or during bottling, solids or sediment,  acidity, sugar content, density of the liquid, calcium or mineral content. Wood exposure on a beer could come from the classic large oak ageing containers (several hundred gallons in size) used  to mellow Belgian beers before bottling; while for wine it would typically be the 55-70 gallon containers (standard wine barrel sizes). Other tannins would come from the ingredients used in beer, hops, barley, malt, etc.; or for wine, from the grape skins, grape seeds, or even the grape stems. Many beers now are secondarily aged in a whisky barrel or other previously used barrel. That can add additional flavors and complexity with as little as three weeks of barrel exposure, with great results at about six months of exposure. When there is a barrel exposed beer with 8-10% alcohol, such as most Belgian doubles, and tripels, those can typically last 5-8 years (under good temperature 55F-65F and low light conditions/darkness).  After about eight years a typical Belgian 8-10% alcohol starts to go downhill. Christmas Belgians and Belgian Quads with alcohols from 10%-13% have longer lifespans of 8-13 years. Barley wines, the most ageable of beers, might be considered close to new after 10 years, while some age barley wines for as long as 25 years or possibly longer.

Before keeping your treasured beers in a long aging process, make sure you understand what the expected lifespan of those beers could/would be. That way you do not let those prized beers go past their prime.