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| Drinking Windows and Values |
| Community Tasting History |
| Community Tasting Notes (average 94.6 pts. and median of 95 pts. in 90 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by danielbleier on 4/18/2024 & rated 94 points: In a lineup of great wines (Cardinale, Quilceda Creek, Dunn), this wine was the only non cabernet offered in the reds. Standing out for blackberry, licorice, and smoked meats...Finish has some firmness. (376 views) | | | Tasted by Bubblesearcher23 on 2/16/2024 & rated 94 points: Cork was soft, broke in half and then I pull out the Durand to get the rest out. Decanted briefly, under an hour. Color is a vibrant deep ruby, long thick legs. Nose is complex and powerful, with a fleshy raspberry and blackberry, leather, tobacco, chocolate. The alcohol teeters on overwhelmingly high, but does integrate nicely. On the palate, a bit acidic (needs a longer decant), blue and black fruit (blueberry comes to the fore), leather, earth on the palate. Long fruity finish. Tannins are still grippy, this has plenty of life left. Will definitely be looking forward to the next bottle. Really liked this pour but the blistering alcohol might bring it down slightly for me, otherwise 95-96. (669 views) | | | Tasted by andrewdodd86 on 12/25/2023 & rated 97 points: Delicious. Showing well and at the front of its drinking window. Chocolate. Ripe fleshy fruit. Vanilla. Marashino cherry. More pure fruit than earthy funk. 2024-2034?+ (706 views) | | | Tasted by cubswinws on 10/28/2023 & rated 94 points: Really nice but still a bit of a sharp edge. Needs a good decant or a few more years in the cellar. (1346 views) | | | Tasted by BerkeleyBoy on 10/16/2023 & rated 95 points: Very good! Loretta was moody and needed a lift. Drinking good wine serves many purposes. (1343 views) | | | Tasted by pmarlo on 10/7/2023 & rated 92 points: G2 is very alcoholic wine. Despite that, the wine only had a medium hotness, and it's a dense wine without being gritty or thick and heavy coating on the palate. Three levels of legs observed;, fast, medium, and slow in that order. Slightly tart. Puckering on the tongue. Tannins substantial but not unbearable because they are evolved enough to fit with both the fruit and alcohol. Lingering taste on side of tongue as if the wine somehow absorbed more there and this effect was sustained for minutes.
This was my first G2. Critics and CT reviewers both love these Saxum G2's, and iI wanted to liked this more, but it just didn't climb to the top of the hill for me. This was consumed in a party-like atmosphere and I suspect it should be enjoyed at a slower pace and setting. I think I missed the real nature of this wine in this sitting, and Ct reviewers should take my review with a grain of salt. Intrigued enough to try this at a future date in a more relaxed setting, and over more than two days if possible. (1192 views) | | | Tasted by radman1 on 9/12/2023 & rated 98 points: Decanted about 3 hours and wow! Creamy mouthfeel, fruit forward, with soft vanilla finish. All it should be an more. Enjoy! (1083 views) | | | Tasted by morewineplease! on 6/26/2023 & rated 95 points: Gorgeous wine! Much improved since the late 2021 tasting.
Brownish hue in the glass. Tons of cocoa and red fruit on the nose and palate. Well integrated, with potential to get better still.
Agree with other comments here - 4-6 hour decant is a must. (1463 views) | | | Tasted by Decanting Queen on 5/5/2023: After seeing some positive notes on the 2016 I had planned to give it a try tonight, but once the 2014 caught my eye I had to drink it. As lovely as it has been over many past bottles over the last few years. It still needs a long decant to be truly mind blowing and I wonder how many people just never experience it at its full potential. Because it is excellent after an hour or two, but needs 6 hours to really really evolve. More air would be even better.
Red fruits and fruit leather, nectar like texture, really balanced, alcohol well hidden. So many flavors that keep changing I can’t list every descriptor here but this is a wine that needs your full attention to truly appreciate. (2135 views) | | | Tasted by Geoff on 1/23/2023 & rated 94 points: +4 hour decant. Still some green funk that did blow off after several hours in the glass. Pure, deep red and dark fruit, good balance but still strong tannins, linear. Long finish. (1637 views) | | | Tasted by Amerique on 12/26/2022 & rated 96 points: Rich, delicious dark, ripe,sweet raspberry fruit, excellent structure, very smooth and viscous, long finish, stunning wine (1453 views) | | | Tasted by Geoff on 12/8/2022 & rated 95 points: Great dark fruit, sweet smooth tannins, full bodied, long finish. Just a delightful wine. (1526 views) | | | Tasted by ravbik on 11/26/2022 & rated 95 points: Complex full bodied . Blueberries, strawberries, mild pepper, slight tobacco, earthy notes . Moderate tannins (1444 views) | | | Tasted by norsktorsk on 11/17/2022 & rated 94 points: Like a MEAL. awesome (1319 views) | | | Tasted by cubswinws on 11/12/2022 & rated 95 points: Spicy and rich with long finish and just a complete package (1049 views) | | | Tasted by jshufelt on 6/25/2022 & rated 93 points: Decanted 90 minutes before service. In the glass, clear medium-dark ruby red at the rim, shading to opaque magenta/black at the core. On the nose, raspberries, currants, and a bit of barnyard - 58% mourvedre, so I should have expected that, but somehow it was still a surprise. Not unpleasant, just a surprise: California bias creeping in, I suppose. On the palate, the lush, smooth, saturated deep fruit you expect from any Saxum bottling, with a bit of meaty funk on the midpalate, and a long, slightly tannic and slightly alcoholic finish. Not sure this has the bones for long term aging, but this is the kind of crowd pleaser that was going to be hard to hide in a dark cellar corner in any event. (1705 views) | | | Tasted by pjhr on 5/22/2022 & rated 94 points: Delicious black berry, plum, and floral notes on the nose and rich palate with spice and refreshing acidity on the long finish. (1724 views) | | | Tasted by JCMenendez on 5/9/2022 & rated 95 points: Wow. The aromas jump out of the glass and grab you from the first pour. The wine itself; however, needs about an hour to unwind and get to max beauty. Started out big and maybe unidimensional with blue and black fruits. After about an hour ( which is a hard thing to see given that this G2 is deliciously drinkable right out of the gate) the complexity starts to come in, the wine feels sweeter with red cherry flavors to complement the blue fruits, you also start to notice floral and spice tones. Just beautiful if you have the willpower to let it sit in your glass for an hour or so.... (1809 views) | | | Tasted by markcic on 5/8/2022 & rated 95 points: For our Mothers Day dinner. Opened 4 hours prior to consumption and then poured through a vintorio. Dark fruit with hints of chocolate on the nose. The palate was dark cherry, plum, tobacco and mocha. The finish was almost forever. (1849 views) | | | Tasted by markcic on 2/27/2022 & rated 95 points: Eight months since I last tried a bottle. Opened 4 hours prior to consumption and then poured through a vintorio. Dark fruit with hints of chocolate on the nose. The palate was dark cherry, plum, tobacco and mocha. The finish was almost forever. (2428 views) | | | Tasted by morewineplease! on 11/16/2021 & rated 93 points: Decanting Queen is right - patience pays.
Popped and Poured with only about 15 minutes of air. First taste was metallic, but that quickly subsided to a light, very enjoyable, if unremarkable, wine. Sipped with munching some flatbread pizza before the main course of Wagyu burgers. (Doesn't everyone drink Saxum with their hamburgers?)
Character started to show with the rich beef. Fruit forward but not dominating. Lighter than most Saxums, but lots of fruit, spice, and tannin to be interesting.
Went away from it for a 2012 Rioja. Came back to it with chocolate brownies, now about 2 hours from opening. Holy Moly!!! That's the wine we were waiting for! Fully integrated; don't notice the very high alcohol content. Strong tannins suggesting years to go, but they do not interfere with the ability to enjoy this lovely bottle now. Glad we have 3 left!!! (2578 views) | | | Tasted by Philip67 on 11/7/2021 & rated 93 points: Very big and rich. 58% Mourvedre, 42% Grenache. Big structure of tannin and acidity but the fruit dominates, full bodied. Beyond the largely darker fruit notes of damson and blackberry there is hoisin and balsamic. Long quite hard finish, almost austere in a strange way (presumable from the Mourvedre), some complexity. Drinking now and will last for many years - but not convinced it will improve. (2210 views) | | | Tasted by AlexHop on 10/17/2021 & rated 96 points: Nose starts with dark fruit and then a spike of candy ripe cherry and finally some warm fireplace (but subtle). Medium bodied with lots of crushed herbs, fruit and some nice acid. Long showy finish. Lots of life still. Tasted from a magnum. (2206 views) | | | Tasted by Decanting Queen on 9/17/2021: Same score as previous notes, just an excellent wine and sad I can’t get on this list!!
This is one of my favorites, so I decided to open it in the late afternoon to make the mandatory online training course more enjoyable. It is a course that I have to take every year so I know the content by heart, but it takes 2 hrs and you can’t skip ahead. So planned to make it a happy hour activity with a favorite wine.
I gave it an hour or so of air but I wish I would read my past notes because it really wasn’t long enough. I spent the first two hours of drinking thinking the alcohol was coming in way too hot and also wondering if I had COVID because I was getting nothing on the nose (normally the best part of. This wine). Also wondering why I thought this wine was so special.
Opened a different bottle for dinner, and came back to this, now 6 hours in the decanter and WoW. That’s the wine I remember. Intense nose of florals and fruit (that’s a relief!), fruit so pure and intense it was like a berry and pomegranate nectar. So incredibly smooth with a long finish. Alcohol completely integrated.
Note to self, this is not a PnP wine, plan ahead because it is worth it!! (3821 views) | | | Tasted by Schiffy on 8/17/2021 & rated 95 points: Great complexity with dark plum fruit with distinct spice notes, coriander, cherry and hints of mocha and chocolate on the finish. This is yet another Saxum gem that is drinking VERY well after seven years. Must give this an hour decant to fully enjoy all its flavors. (2315 views) | | | Only displaying the 25 most recent notes - click to see all notes for this wine... |
| Saxum Producer website
Justin Smith of Saxum Vineyards is focused on producing Syrah, Grenache, and Mataro based blends from the Willow Creek District of Paso Robles, California. We let our rocky calcareous soils, steep hillsides, and cooling ocean breezes speak through our wines by keeping our yields extremely low, picking fruit at the peak of ripeness, and using a minimalist approach in the cellar. We respect our land and farm everything sustainably without chemical fertilizers, herbicides, or pesticides. Because our vine’s roots penetrate deep through the fissures in the calcareous soil irrigation is rarely needed. Production is kept at 5000-6000 cases per year divided between 12 different cuvees, Broken Stones, Heart Stone Vineyard, James Berry Vineyard, James Berry Vineyard White, Booker Vineyards, Rocket Block, Bone Rock, Paderewski Vineyard, G2 Vineyard, Terry Hoage Vineyard, 4hearts Vineyard, and The Hexe.Red Rhone Blend Read about the different grapes used to produce red and white Rhone wines
On CellarTracker, Red Rhone Blend is the term for a wine consisting of two or more of the traditional 13 Southern Rhone grape varieties. Typically it's the Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre or Cinsault grapes, but can also contain the Muscardin, Counoise, Clairette, Bourboulenc, Picpoul, Roussanne, Terret Noir, Picardan or Vaccarese grapes.
A 'food' wine. Lacking pretension and intended for local consumption with local cuisine. Lacks the 'high' notes on a Bordeaux, more earthy and sharper so often a better partner to meat dishes with a sauce. G2 VineyardBeginning with the 2014 vintage, we brought a new vineyard into the fold. The G2 vineyard is only half a mile from our estate, directly to the South West. Our friend Bill Gibbs (of Heart Stone fame) purchased the property with 40 acres already planted to Grenache, Mataro, Syrah, Tannat, and Zinfandel. We locked down our favorite blocks, an amazing 5 acre South slope planted to Mataro and Grenache. These blocks are extremely rocky and steep, a twin of our Syrah block at Booker Vineyard, with a vertical rise of 200 feet in a single row! Our hunches were right and the fruit off these blocks are mind blowing. Since 2014 we have planted 8 more blocks; 2 North facing Grenache blocks, 2 big south slopes with head trained Graciano, a North face Syrah block, and some blocks of Carignane and Cinsault. We plan to keep the blend Grenache and Mataro dominant but want to bring in these supporting characters for a little extra complexity. USAAmerican wine has been produced since the 1500s, with the first widespread production beginning in New Mexico in 1628. Today, wine production is undertaken in all fifty states, with California producing 84% of all U.S. wine. The continent of North America is home to several native species of grape, including Vitis labrusca, Vitis riparia, Vitis rotundifolia, and Vitis vulpina, but the wine-making industry is based almost entirely on the cultivation of the European Vitis vinifera, which was introduced by European settlers. With more than 1,100,000 acres (4,500 km2) under vine, the United States is the fourth-largest wine producing country in the world, after Italy, Spain, and France.California2021 vintage: "Unlike almost all other areas of the state, the Russian River Valley had higher than normal crops in 2021, which has made for a wine of greater generosity and fruit forwardness than some of its stablemates." - Morgan Twain-Peterson Central Coasthttp://www.ccwinegrowers.org/links.html
http://www.discovercaliforniawines.com/regional-wine-organizations/
http://beveragetradenetwork.com/en/btn-academy/list-of-winegrowers-association-in-central-coast-california-274.htm
Central Coast AVA Wikipedia |
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