Today I’m sharing a one-bottle post from a winery I haven’t tasted from in a long time, Artisan Uprising in Paso Robles (now the winery is in Simi Valley). The one-bottle post is something Eddie had me start years ago. The thought is that winemakers put a lot into a single wine, and to do them credit a review of that one wine should be awarded to them.
In the case of Artisan Uprising, I’ve interviewed one of the winemakers in the past, David Vondrasek, who is also a local distillery manager at the Mob Museum here in Las Vegas. We recently met up again when he attended a whisky event I had marketed. At the same time, I learned that he had also connected with a local friend of mine who did happen to appreciate a recent wine tasting with him. After all of that, and my friend learning of our connection, she purchased and gifted me a bottle of the 2015 (yes, an 11 year old vintage) of their Malbec. I was thrilled.
Before tasting the wine, I did a search to see if I had reviewed this particular vintage before, and other bottles I may have reviewed. I found several articles on our website from the Garagiste festival, with mentions of Artisan Uprising in each. I also wrote about them in an article for SCV Elite Magazine back in 2021, during Covid:
“David and Billy Vondrasek of Artisan Uprising are known to some in Santa Clarita for being the first to drop everything and make hand sanitizer pretty much on day one of the pandemic, and deliver it to our local hospital, among other places. The Vondraseks have also donated to Cocktails on the Roof and last year’s Vine 2 Wine. Their unique label art and back label manifesto illustrate their dedication to their craft, as does the wine inside. Wines we loved: 2020 Rose of Malbec, 2015 Merlot and 2016 Tempranillo. https://www.artisanuprising.com.” Read more here.
So now, let’s get to tasting the 2015 Malbec:
My habit is to open and taste any red wine 30-60 minutes before enjoying, to decide if I want to decant, just leave the cork out, or re-cork. For this Malbec Eddie and I agreed that the wine – with beautiful blue fruit but slightly tight – would benefit from a little decanting time.
25 minutes later…
The color of the wine was a dark purple and completely opaque. The nose reminded me of the blueberries I mentioned before when I did a sample tasting, now followed by blackberry, rich earth, tree bark, slight eucalyptus, and dark chocolate. Very enticing. When I went in for my taste I noted both rich and dark flavors of blue to black fruit, earth, spiciness, and drying tannins. I had the wine alone, without food, as I didn’t want other flavors to inhibit my feelings and really loved how big it was. However, I always think of Malbec as a food wine, so I did try it again with a pepperoni pizza I had made. With the pairing…well suffice it to say both the wine and the pizza were completely consumed.
Find your 2015 Artisan Uprising Malbec here. To see a photo of the black label see my social media on Instagram or Facebook.
Eve Bushman has a Level Two Intermediate Certification from the Wine and Spirits Education Trust (WSET), a “certification in the first globally-recognized course” as an American Wine Specialist ® from the North American Sommelier Association (NASA), Level 1 Sake Award from WSET, was the subject of a 60-minute Wine Immersion video (over 16k views), authored “Wine Etiquette for Everyone” and has served as a judge for the Proof Awards since 2022 (submit via https://proofawards.com) Cellarmasters, LA Wine Competition, Long Beach Grand Cru and the Global Wine Awards. You can email Eve@EveWine101.com to ask a question about wine or spirits. Follow on Instagram and Facebook.
