Thacher Winery, Paso Robles (Central Coast, California) Valdiguié 2021

 Of course, a nouveau doesn’t have to justify its existence – it simply is.  Still, it’s fun to muse — as the wine first swirls around the glass like a centrifuge — about what brought it into existence.  At a time, nouveaus represented a quick infusion of cash.  Some drinkers saw them as an early window on the vintage, however opaque an opening.  Perhaps in a simpler time people were simply thirsty for fresh wine – a playful slap on the palate.  One could also imagine in pre-analog and -digital days it being a test batch – pull it off, taste it, make adjustments for maturing, though that time is long past.  But here we stop swirling.  The label says “Valdiguie” because “Napa Gamay” is no longer legal, even if the winemaker wanted to use it.  Sip the wine, pulling up memories of what a Napa Gamay tasted like when it was plentiful, even in Napa.  But, enough!  The cranberry-colored wine has a pleasant, piquant aroma – fresh, not quite yeasty – and the flavor follows: tart cherry-skins, whizzy as it passes across the palate, a light fruity/sweetness in the finish.  A bit like drinking citrus without the citrus flavors.  As perhaps a nouveau should, it quickly lures me in, but just as quickly allows me to pass on.