Stirm, San Benito (Central Coast, California) Cabernet Pfeffer 2021

 Winemaker Ryan Stirm has created a pleasing, light-bodied red with red cherry, cranberry, raspberry fruit spiced with a touch of black pepper perfect with fried chicken.  He sources the organic grapes from  the Stilleto Vineyard, farmed by the second generation Stilleto family.  I had heard of Cabernet Pfeffer, supposedly a cross between Cabernet Sauvignon and a native American grape, or a cross of Cabernet Sauvignon and Trousseau.  Apparently, opinions abound, but fortunately the folks at U.C. Davis conducted genetic tests and concluded that Cabernet Pfeffer is Mourtaou, “an old cultivar from the Bordeaux region of France.”  In fact, it is so obscure that Jancis Robinson et al, did not include it in the virtually comprehensive tome entitled, Wine Grapes.  In 2020 the TTB, Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, approved the use of the name “Mourtaou as a synonym for the previously approved Cabernet Pfeffer grape variety.”