Wine of the Week: Primal Roots Red Blend

Wine: Primal Roots Red Blend

Grapes: Merlot (49 percent), syrah (42 percent), zinfandel (9 percent)

Region: California

Vintage: 2011

Price: $8.99

Availability: Trader Joe’s and Lee’s Discount Liquor

In the glass: Primal Roots Red Blend is a deep burly sort of crimson to inky-blackish red with a completely opaque center going out into a deeply painted blood-ruby rim definition and high viscosity.

On the nose: The wine immediately reveals layers of ripe opulent black fruit with dominance by black currants and boysenberries, then phenols, oak, creme de cassis, creme brulee, vanilla, cherry jam and blackberry sorbet. It is simply a delicious, albeit heady, nose for a California wine with tons of fruit coming out of it.

On the palate: There’s an immediate sweet lush crush of black and red berries with blueberries, ripe Bing cherries, Tahiti vanilla bean-laced berry compote, almost chewy notes of blackberries, a firmly structured set of tannins and a solid backbone for decent drinkability. The midpalate is powerful with black fruit and some soft minerals going into a soft, quite sweet finish that lingers with red Twizzlers.

Odds and ends: Grilling season is undeniably upon us, and one of the things I am always hunting for are sturdy red wines that can handle the meats we like to cook on the piping hot cast-iron surface. Coming upon this Primal Roots Red Blend in a fairly large tasting lineup of wines from California, it “spoke” to me with its fleshy and fairly distinct style coming from the blending of three major grape varieties: merlot, syrah and zinfandel. When you put these three bad boys together, you’re going to get something concentrated and sturdy, and this wine is right along the lines of big and bold and just perfect for the barbecue season, sweetness and all. This bottling is part of a trend of juicy, palate-pleasing and affordable wines, packaged in nicely heavy and exclusive-looking bottles with snazzy labels, that are being produced by some of the titans of the wine business in California. If you like big, ripe and sweet California red wine, just the way most people do, this is definitely one for you. A big rack of meaty ribs slathered in barbecue sauce is what’s on the menu for this bottle. Drink it through 2017.

Gil Lempert-Schwarz’s wine column appears Wednesdays. Write him at P.O. Box 50749, Henderson, NV 89106-0749, or email him at gil@winevegas.com.