August 6, 2014 - Great herbs, chalk, pepper, and balance.
May 23, 2014 - A fun, easy drinking grenache. Very enjoyable red fruit - strawberry and cherry, along with white peppercorn and some herbaceousness. The bottle was emptied quite quickly, emphasizing what a good value this is.
May 9, 2014 - Not my favorite of the range, this is still a solid wine, with a hint of carbonic, nice acidity, perhaps a bit one-dimensional but a good juicy food-pairing wine.
April 8, 2014 - I'm definitely a Bonny Doon fan. This Grenache has a little Cinsault, Syrah and Mourvedre (17% combined) that spices it up a bit. Fruit profile is red - cherry, strawberry, raspberry. Also rhubarb, cloves, roses, cinnamon, leather, toffee. Medium acidity, medium+ body, alcohol (13.3%). The tannins build a little over time to medium. Fairly long finish with the slightly chewy tannins, tart fruit and lingering spice. I tried this side-by-side in a Pinot glass and a Syrah glass (smaller diameter rim). The differences are quite surprising: the nose is more pronounced in the syrah glass; in fact, I don't pick up any cherry in the pinot glass. But the pinot glass gives it a softer, rounder, fuller mouthfeel. More fruit, less acid - which is consistent with what the rim size differences are supposed to accomplish. Early on I preferred the syrah glass, but eventually settled on the Pinot. Better the second day.
March 22, 2014 - This is a ridonculous QPR for the pure Grenache loving crowd. Beautiful clarity with a sparkling ruby color. Intriguing nose. This wine saw whole cluster but the stems were ripe, not even close to being green or overbearing but there's a solid steminess throughout. Dark berry and spice nose with a mossy funk. Flavors of crushed red berry, acid, and stem notes. Tannins are very fine. Medium plus finish. Love it and at $13 it might be the best QPR on the planet for southern rhone lovers like myself.
March 13, 2014 - So interesting. Why? Unlike almost all current reds, the sugar is nonexistant here. Consequently, at the start, the worry is that this one has died. On the contrary, the fruit flavor actually builds throughout, and by hour 3 some tannins are evident along with pepper. Unexpected and thought-provoking
June 23, 2013 - I was exited to write up a tasting note, had details scribbled down and then I saw my note from May. Exactly the same... Same descriptions and overall impression.
Good news is we paired this with grilled steak and The Warden said "better get more of this stuff". OK, don't need to ask me twice to go buy more wine!
May 28, 2013 - Punched above its weight. Good fruit w/ some complexity. A crowd-pleaser
May 8, 2013 - A lot going on with this one. It's on the medium/light side for both flavor and body but after over 4 hours it hadn't yet slipped. A fun tanginess for the first hour and then a predominant peppery smell and flavor on hour two. The latter hours were of the fruity variety and a pleasing one at that. I'm getting more.
May 2, 2013 - Whoa, screw top alert! It's not really the screw top per se, i have no problem with the twist off, but the bottle is literally filled to the VERY top of the bottle and a little spilled just opening. Dumped into a big pinot glass and gave it a good swirl. Humm, legs forming like it might be boozy. Quite dark color, like a ripe raspberry, and good clarity. First whiff is loaded with heat, this wine needs a solid decant so I waited 30 minutes. Nose is amazing; rose petals, dark fruit, sage, white pepper, and perfume. Palate really improved with time as the heat took a backseat to the mild dark fruit, green stem, sage, and blast of cayenne pepper. Mouthfeel is on the lean side, probably the alcohol at work here, but the finish is very long. I'd guess whole cluster was used as stem influence seems to show across the board and its not a fruit forward syrupy mess that some California Grenache turn into. Good value and enjoyable.