Travieso

As noted in the previous post, Travieso shares the facilities at Pinder Winery. Like Pinder, they source fruit from various AVAs. The Pinder tasting includes one Travieso wine.

2005 El Chupacabras, Santa Barbara County. Travieso's labels are themed around characters and monsters from Mexican folklore. The El Chupacabras is a Rhone blend of 79% Syrah, 17% Mourvedre and 4% Viognier. On the nose there are blueberries and oak; on the palate as its name suggests it's a bit of a monster - hugely extracted, concentrated fruit and lots of tannins. Fans of powerhouse Australian Shiraz like Marquis Philips will appreciate this style and I'm sure the critics would rate it in the 90s, but it's not to my taste. $33

Not to be outdone, the bottle is also a monster. Standing next to the Pinder wines it looks more like a 1L bottle, yet contains a standard 750ml. It seems there is yet another target in my campaign against unnecessarily large bottles.

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