I didn’t have Tannat tonight. I’m just going to blog about Tannat, tonight.
Over the weekend we had some company in town. Having exhausted most of what DC has to offer (those who have been here numerous times), they asked to go to a local winery. Our go to place, as you may know, is Delaplane Cellars. We ran through the typical tasting menu, before deciding to pick up a bottle of the 2009 Deleplane Cellars Tannat to share.
Tannat is historically a French blending grape, although some southwest French have made 100% Tannat wines. It has only been since 2002 that American wineries have been able to put Tannat on the label. (Here’s the full list)
I haven’t had many Tannats but the one from Delaplane was really nice. It was big, deep, and tannic. It had a beautiful rich color, and nice aromas.  It was chewy and delicious. It’s tough to give it an official “wines in a can” review.  Suffice to say, it was delicious.
We were intrigued by the grape enough to go pick up a bottle of Uruguayan tannat on the way home to compare them side by side with the Virginia one. (Tannat is very popular in Uruguay.)
Again, not really prepared to review it, but to it too was good. However, I actually preferred the Virginia tannat, as did everyone else at my house. I found the Uruguayan version to be less dense, aromatic and flavorful. It was a good wine, hands down, but it just couldn’t stand up to the Delaplane.
I’ve got another bottle of each, so I’m prepared to review it in true WIAC style. But for now, I encourage you to “say yes to the adventure” and buy a bottle of Tannat, from Virginia, France, Uruguay, or anywhere else.
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