Cooper’s Hawk — CHMX — Valle de Guadalupe, Baja California, Mexico — N/V
Price: $26.99; https://chwinery.com/wine/catalog/chmx
I know this blog is about wine made in the United States, but I’ve been hearing so much about wine made in our neighboring Mexico and Canada, that I decided I wanted to add a tasting from each. Cooper’s Hawk provided an opportunity to taste wine from a vineyard in Mexico’s famed wine region of Valle de Guadalupe in the state of Baja California, Monte Xanic.
While I hope to one day visit the estate and try more of their wines, Monte Xanic’s collaboration with Copper’s Hawk is named CHMX, and is a blend of 58% cabernet sauvignon, 25% durif (petit syrah), 10% petit verdot and 7% merlot.
This rusted purple-ish wine has a medium-light body, with scents of pomegranate, dark chocolate and dirt. Tasting it adds oak to the palate, causing a dry sensation on your tongue.
After being open for an hour, the taste of pomegranate becomes more bold with its tartness, which can be a little overpowering with the bitter flavor of dark chocolate. But it is very light tannins, which is appreciated.
I left the wine to breathe for an hour and came back to a more juicy wine. Flavors of bright red berries were more prominent, as if cherry was added to the pomegranate. The bitterness had left the wine and dryness softened. The light flavor of leather also appeared on the tongue. It was, in the end, a pleasant wine.
My tasting partner and I disagreed on the final score, as I felt that the wine had redeemed itself from it’s bitter beginning to a flavor filled liquid to enjoy. My parter was not able to overlook the first 15 minutes of overwhelming tart and dry bitterness. We agreed to meet in the middle.
This wine did make me want to try more wines from Valle de Guadalupe, as it has some great grapes growing there. I’d recommend this wine if you want to look beyond the U.S.’s West Coast wines, but still relatively local.
Score: 7.6
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