Drink Colorado wine

If you’ve ever met winemaker Parker Carlson and happen to know what a good lemberger tastes like, you can almost imagine it’s a grape that describes him well. It's bold, but soft. Grand, but playful. Serious is not a word that would be a good descriptor of either, at least on first impression.

So it’s a really unique experience to be able to drink his 2008 Tyrannosaurus Red, a lemberger, having met Parker in the Carlson Vineyards tasting room just a few months back. For those who haven’t tried a lemberger before – likely most of you – it’s a fruity, light grape that is known in both Austria and Germany. It’s said to grow well in Colorado, too.

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This is the first example of the grape that I have had that lives up to its fun-natured description.

This wine smells of perfume, candy, and licorice. It tastes like cotton candy with a finish of some tasty smoked meats. Lemberger is definitely a unique grape, and Carlson knows what to do with it. When he strolls into the tasting room in his overalls, you know that you are in for a low-key, relaxed wine drinking experience.

Same can be said for this lemberger. It’s not a serious grape, and you can say the same about the wine. It’s simply fun, almost childish, yet it is still has some complexities, finding a way to act like a fruity wine and stand up like a dry one. Hell, this is a 15.2 percent alcohol wine, but the flavors don't hint at such a powerful pop.

This is good lemberger, so do yourself a favor and try a new grape.

For more:
2008 Tyrannosaurus Red lemberger
15.2% alcohol by volume
Grapes from the Grand Valley AVA
Price: $12.50
7.5 points on ColoradoWino.com’s completely arbitrary 11-point wine review rating system

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