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Blend: 80% Grenache, 20% Syrah Price: $25 Cases Produced: 177
Grenache continues to be a source of fascination and a true passion for us. Grenache is a grape variety that expresses the individual soil and climate in which it grows, and our 2006 vintage clearly demonstrates that unique sense of “place”. The wine from our Grenache vines seems to get more intense and complex with each successive vintage, and we think that’s linked to the vines rooting deeper into the granite soil and becoming more mature each passing year. Blending seems to be beneficial with Grenache, and the 2006 version is no exception. This year we added a dash of Mourvedre to the blend, along with our usual healthy dollop of Syrah. This wine offers up complex aromas of plums, orange peels, lavender, and candle wax, with intense strawberry flavors, a hint of spice-box, silky texture, snappy acidity, and a long mineral-laden finish. Estate Vineyard Block: Estate Vineyard, south facing slope near top of vineyard at 2,500 feet elevation Blend: 80% Grenache, 17% Syrah, 3% Mourvedre Price: $25 Cases Produced: 184 Lately, Grenache has become our "go to" wine. We enjoy the way the wine's mid-weight body and lovely red fruit flavors complement a meal. Grenache rarely overpowers a dish, yet we are always surprised by its lingering deliciousness. Grenache benefits from the company of another grape variety or two in the final blend. We undertook many blending scenarios for the 2005 Grenache, including trying some Mourvedre, Petite Sirah, and even Cabernet Sauvignon (think Priorat in Spain). But we kept coming back to our usual, a dab of Syrah (15%). This vintage has the most intense Grenache fruit to date. The wine has beautiful strawberry and cherry aromatics and persistent, pure, red fruit flavors in the mouth. Estate Vineyard Block: Estate Vineyard, south facing slope near top of vineyard at 2,500 feet elevation
As our Grenache vines mature, we see increasing complexity in each successive vintage, including the 2004. To us, this vintage most resembles wine from Chateauneuf du Pape in a ripe year. The 2004 Grenache has deeper color and greater density than previous vintages, and its flavors veer towards darker fruits such as plums and black cherry, rather than the more usual strawberry flavors. The esteemed wine writer, Robert Parker, twice used the word “seductive” to describe our 2003 Grenache. The use of words like this to describe wine tends to make us laugh, but in truth, seductive is an excellent way to describe good Grenache, which can quietly win you over with its attractive color, enticing aromas, and alluring flavors. We think the 2004 Grenache is, indeed, seductive. Estate Vineyard Block: Estate Vineyard, south facing slope near top of vineyard at 2,500 feet elevation This is the ripest and most decadent Grenache we have made. Thanks to a lot of hard work in the vineyard fine- tuning this finicky grape variety (didn't the well-known wine writer Robert Parker say Grenache is even more difficult to harness than Pinot Noir?), the vines were in balance and the fruit was in great shape at harvest. And speaking of Robert Parker, he described our 2002 Grenache as a "fairly priced red" as well as being both "attractive" and "seductive". Wow! We think the 2003 Grenache shares similar personality traits, plus terrific ripeness, exotic spiciness, plums and strawberries, along with a rich texture and fine, soft tannins. Estate Vineyard Block: Grenache South and Syrah North and East Slopes What a treat it is to make a varietal Grenache every year! Actually, we never feel that way during the growing season, when we're out in the vineyard thinning shoots and dropping crop in an effort to keep up with all that needs to be done to control Grenache's vigor and ensure the flavors we want. It's always exciting at harvest, though! This is our fourth vintage of this wine, and we took a very minimalist approach in the cellar in 2002, including never racking the wine until bottling to preserve as much of that pure Grenache deliciousness as possible. As our vines get older, we're noticing the influence of plum and black cherry aromas and flavors in the wine, in addition to the usual bright strawberry character. There is a terrific juiciness, and a Chinese 5-spice and wet stone note in the flavors of this wine. We blended in 5% Mourvedre and 5% Syrah to round out the wine's finish. Production is still small and the demand is high for this wine, so there is a 6 bottle limit on the 2002 Grenache. Estate Vineyard Block: Grenache South, Syrah North and East Slopes, Mourvedre Blend: 90% Grenache, 5% Mourvedre, 5% Syrah 14.3% alcohol Price: $22 Cases Produced: 129 Tasting Note: Aromas of strawberry, black cherry, and Chinese 5-spice mingle with flavors showing terrific juiciness, wet stone notes, cocoa, soft tannin, and rich acidity on the long finish. This is the third vintage of Grenache from our small patch of vines adjacent to our house, planted to the Chateau de Beaucastel budwood selection. We think this is the most intense Grenache of the three. As in the past, keeping a small crop load was required to get this result. Those of you who had the chance to taste the Grenache from barrel commented on the pure strawberry fruit, the grip, and presence this wine had on the finish. In the 2001, we blended 7% Syrah and 5% Mourvedre to add structure and complement Grenache's remarkable strawberry jam and black cherry character. Estate Vineyard Block: Grenache South, Syrah North and East Slopes, Mourvedre 15.2% alcohol Price: $22 Cases Produced: 130 Tasting Note: Aromas of strawberry and black cherry mingle with flavors of strawberry jam, cocoa, and soft tannin on the long finish |
