Chambourcin is a grape that, if you try to make it act like vinifera, is a bit like jogging with a cat on a leash. You can do it, but it’s going to be weird, plenty of folks will disapprove, and it will get its revenge while you sleep (the cat will). Chambourcin’s spirit animal is not a cat, but rather some theoretical “forever puppy”: soft, playful, endlessly charming, won’t stop chewing the cat’s leash. It is a red wine that carries a tannin load closer to that of most white wines, and like whites, is freshest and juiciest when there is plenty of acidity. For that reason it is perfect with a chill, and the soft tannins and bright fruit are reminiscent of the grape Gamay. That’s why, in the early days of this wine, Early Mountain veteran, Patt Eagan, coined the term “Chambojolais”. He should put that on a T-shirt.