28 Oct Please The Palate Wine of the Week: Vines on the Marycrest Jive Talkin’ 2018

In 1975, the Bee Gees released the single Jive Talkin. With a catchy chorus and an infectious beat, it is hard to sit still when listening to that song. That same sensation was felt as I was sipping the Vines on the Marycrest Jive Talkin’ 2018, a sparkling red wine and the Please The Palate wine of the week. Located in Paso Robles, Vines on the Marycrest is a boutique winery owned by Victor and Jenni Abascal. Victor was a sound engineer in Los Angeles when he first ventured into wine. He planted his first vines on the hills of the Marycrest Manor, a convalescent home, in Culver City. Today he has 26 acres of steep hills in the Adelaida district of westside Paso Robles and the winery is named in homage to his first vines. Vines of the Marycrest produces approximately 1100 cases per year and any blends that Victor makes are named after songs, like the 2018 Jive Talkin’. Vines on the Marycrest Jive Talkin’ 2018 is a blend of Grenache and Zinfandel. The Grenache is whole cluster and the Zinfandel is also whole cluster but goes through carbonic maceration. The juice is fermented dry and is then lightly pressed. It spends one year on the lees in stainless steel tanks. The wine is made in the Ancestral Method which means the secondary fermentation occurs in the bottle but there is no disgorgement, as with the Champagne method. The wine is secured with a crown cap. I visited Victor at Vines on the Marycrest recently and as we were talking about wine, I told him that I had just enjoyed a bottle of Lambrusco. He told me that I had to try his Jive Talkin’ so I took a bottle home with me. I decided to share the wine with my parents during our weekly dinner. We chilled the wine and when it was ready, I got a bottle opener to pop the crown cap. While an Ancestral Method wine is less powerful than Champagne, it still has a lot of atmospheric pressure inside. I had forgotten this and as soon as I popped the top, the wine bubbled out of the top of the bottle, spraying all around me. After a good laugh and clean up, I poured the wine into our glasses. The wine is a pretty cranberry color and was only slightly cloudy due to a little sediment. The wine has really pretty aromas of plum, blackberry, strawberry leather and dried flowers, and herbal notes. On the palate, the taste of berries is prevalent, which I attribute to the carbonic maceration, and there are also savory notes. The wine is dry with soft tannins. It is light-bodied and fresh. Victor recommends that once the wine is open and the first glasses are poured, put a Champagne stopper on it to keep the bubbles fresh. But, this wine was so fun and drinkable that we drank it all too quickly! There are less than 100 cases of this wine made which retails for $40. Enjoy a bottle of Vines on the Marycrest Jive Talkin’ 2018 while listening to the Bee Gee’s sing Jive Talkin’ and you will be dancing and singing the night away.