The Desert Wine Guy - 2011 Sultry Cellars (Cellar 433) "Crop"

  How many of you guys know that the state of Arizona has been making a name for itself in relation to it's wines over the past few years? For those of you who aren't aware of Arizona and it's wine here http://www.vvwinetrail.com/ is all the information you will need to know (until my article comes out that is).  For right now however I will simply tell you that there is what is known as the "Verde Valley Wine Trail" which consists of the small towns/cities of Cottonwood, Sedona and Jerome Arizona. These three places are at the heart of the Arizona wine craze. You need to visit the wine trail because you are missing out on some great wine. The only negative to the Verde Valley Wine Trail is the Summer months where temperatures can really get up there. On the day of this review (June 26, 2015) was started the temperature in Sedona was 99 degrees. By the way it was 108 in Las Vegas on the same day in case you are interested. To the best of my knowledge all the grapes for the wine trail are grown in Wilcox Arizona where it was 91 degrees on the day of this review. Since I have had this article on hold for about 1 month I am also able to give an update now as of July 24, 2016. Yesterday I went with my family to Jerome and the temperature was 96 degrees with a Humidity level of 20%. Coming from las Vegas where the current temperature is 103 the Humidity is currently 14% (but normally runs about 6%) Jerome was VERY uncomfortable to say the least. I am sure you can probably already guess by now that today's wine review happens to be on a wine from Arizona, Jerome Arizona to be exact. Today I will discuss my review of the 2013 Sultry Cellars (Cellar 433 https://cellar433.com/category/jerome-winery/ ) "Crop". For Red wine lovers who like a nice peppery Syrah this area is a must because there is something in the Arizona soil that seems to naturally gives their Reds a Black Pepper note that I myself love. Let's move ahead now and see what I thought about this wine from Arizona.


   The 2011 Sultry Cellars "Crop" is a wine that I bought a few years ago and simply forgot about. Like all the wines I get from Arizona I purchased them at the actual winery's themselves and enjoyed a tasting of them before I bought them. This wine is no exception so I already knew going into this review that I did like the wine but did I did not remember any more about the wine than that. On the nose this wine started off really nice with a simply outstanding and totally expressive bouquet that wonderfully displayed it's many different tropical notes. If you love Apricot than your in luck here with the bouquet because there is heavy Apricot fruit on the nose followed by Peach. Both of these on the nose sent a message of sweetness to my mind. The other notes that followed up which was of Pear and a juicy Peach and Nectarine just reinforced that sweet, tropical sense. I didn't really mind that sense of sweetness however because that didn't mean necessarily mean it translated to actual sweetness in the the wine. The Bouquet in this wine is loaded with fruity notes galore and they are all displayed on the Palette as well. There is a noticeable hint of Alcohol here that appears to be used to open your Palette for what is to come next. As for the appearance of this wine in my glass the color was slightly muted and exhibited a medium Golden wine with some Yellowish hues to it. Here is a wine that is a blend of 50% Chardonnay & 50% Sauvignon Blanc and has the characteristics, Bouquet and Palette wise of both wines mixed into one. If you want to enjoy or talk about a White wine blend that explodes with an incredible Bouquet and coats your Palette incredibly than look no further. There is also an every so slight Palette note of acidity here but  not overbearing or "in your face" so to speak. To me all the notes seem to come together at once very nicely. We are talking about notes of Apple, Apricot and Peach that makes for a wonderful introduction to this wine. Secondary or lesser notes of sugary Peach and Nectarine shine thru. Perhaps unusual for these varietals is the fact that I did not notice any Grapefruit at all. To me that is good because I actually don't believe that a Grapefruit note would have been too welcome here. This wine is wonderfully bright and semi-sweet on the Palette. A wine that screams "It's summer and I'm headed to the pool", loudly and clearly.
There is a hint of acidity as well here that brightens this wine in your mouth and puts a dryness on the back Palette and on the finish. On the sides of my Tongue I picked up a slight tartness that I also really liked. On the bottle of this wine it says "Oak aged over 18 months". It does not state the type of Oak however and why doing the tasting I did not sense any Oak at all in my mouth. This might be because the Oak was either old or had a lower "toasting" level. Going back to the "sweetness" note for a minute and bringing this article to a close I will say that while as I stated I really didn't mind it much but I do have to say that I do think it was slightly over the top but not nearly enough to make this wine anywhere near undrinkable. I do believe however that it was enough however to deduct 2 points from the overall rating on The Desert Wine Guy rating scale. 
   Overall I must say that I thoroughly enjoy the wine and with the exception of a small amount of over the top sweetness I think the wine displayed itself really nicely.
   On The Desert Wine Guy rating scale I give this wine 89 points.

                                                                                                                   The Desert Wine Guy

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