Review: C.L. Butaud 2022 Blanc de Noir and 2021 Cease & Desist
We’re back to Texas-based C.L. Butaud with a look at a pair of newish releases — one white, one red… but both made from red grapes.
2022 C.L. Butaud Blanc de Noir – A white wine (with just the barest shade of pink to it) made from 100% mourvedre (red) grapes, 6 barrels made from grapes grown in Desert Willow Vineyards in Seminole, Texas. Clean and approachable, the wine offers an immediate note of melon, slightly sour with notes of lemon peel, followed by a cleansing salinity. A touch of sesame-laced cookie dough gives the later stages a certain creaminess, almost doughy at times. Engaging, unusual, and unique — though for what it’s worth, winemaker Randy Hester says not to bother with tasting notes, just enjoy it. I did both. A- / $48
2021 C.L. Butaud Cease & Desist Red Blend Texas High Plains – 73% tempranillo, 20% mourvedre, 7% grenache. Considerably lighter in body than the 2020 bottling, the focus here leans more on strawberry and light raspberry notes than the dense currents and cherry notes of the prior vintage, with unusual secondary elements of orange peel and cardamom emerging. Silky and chocolaty, there’s a vanilla punch waiting for you on the finish, though it arrives alongside a lingering doughy quality that pulls you out of the experience a bit and clings to the roof of the mouth. B / $48
2021 C.L. Butaud Cease & Desist Red Blend Texas High Plains
$48
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