Smell The Peat From Here
TASTING NOTES: “The 2022 Carneros Pinot Noir is a blend of the Roche “Longford” Vineyard located just east of the winery and the Roche “Tipperary” Vineyard located adjacent to the winery. The soil and growing conditions help to create a distinct style of Pinot Noir that is known for the Carneros region. Aromas are of ripe plum, strawberry, and boysenberry. Flavors are abundant with red cherry, blackberry, and strawberry.” (AbV 14.2%, pH 3.70, TA 5.45g/L)
VARIETALS: 100% Pinot Noir
BARRELS: 25% New French Oak
PAIRS WITH: N/A
THAT REMINDS ME OF: Tipperary.
It’s a long way to Tipperary — specifically, the song says it’s “a long, long way,” which feels honest in a way that most vague geographic complaints don’t. Written in 1912 by Jack Judge and Harry Williams (the authorship was disputed for decades, which feels appropriate for a song about the difficulty of getting anywhere), it became one of the defining marching songs of World War I almost by accident. British troops were overheard singing it by a journalist in 1914, he wrote about it, and suddenly a cheeky music-hall number about a man pining for his girl back in Ireland was the unofficial soundtrack to one of history’s bleakest chapters.
The actual county of Tipperary is in the south of Ireland, landlocked, largely agricultural, and — by most accounts — not especially difficult to reach. The “long way” in the song is emotional distance, not cartographic: the singer is far from home and far from the girl he loves, and the specific Irish placename does a lot of lifting to make the homesickness feel concrete and singular rather than generic. It’s a neat trick. “It’s a long way to my hometown” does nothing. “It’s a long way to Tipperary” and suddenly you can almost smell the peat.
The name itself is an Anglicization of the Irish Tiobraid Árann, meaning something like “the well of Ara” — a river, a local territory, centuries of linguistic compression. The Roche family named their vineyard after it, which either means someone in the family has Irish roots or they just appreciated that the word lands like a small, satisfying thump. Tipp-er-ar-y. Hard to argue with that.
ICYMI, you have two choices:
- Worried Summer heat might get to your wine before your wine gets to you? Order from the sale linked here, and we’ll get it to you at a cooler time of year!
- Want it shipped now? Every package during the summer will have protected temp control ground shipping for much of the country that takes longer but will ensure safe delivery. Expect up to two weeks for delivery. Now through the September 12th offer.
