Specs
Varietal: 100% Grenache
Alcohol: 14.5%
pH: 3.71
Total Acidity: 5.7 g
Production: 6 barrels


Tasting Notes
This is my 8th release of this Grenache from this unheralded vineyard located near Los Alamos.

This wine is a rather ‘showy’ Grenache - soaring aromatics with fruit and spice up front and center - but is not overblown at all. And this wine has a great structure as well - the tannins are prominent and show off the ‘completeness’ of this variety.

The 2014 Grenache came in on October 15th and even though I didn’t get as much as I was hoping for, I was really happy about this fruit. The fermentation was slow and steady and after pressing, the wine was aged for 34 months in older French oak barrels, never racked or taken out of the barrel until just before bottling. It’s a bit lighter in color and structure from my previous vintage but still just as powerful and alluring. Note that I only made about 95 cases.

2014 marked the first of three very warm and dry years in our area, leading to an earlier-than-usual harvest. The grapes for this wine, which usually don’t ripen for me until early November, were picked by mid-October. That said, I was really happy with the quality of the fruit - flavors, acid levels, and color. The grapes were 100% whole cluster foot stomped by me, then fermented with the stems, pressed, and barreled down to older French oak barrels, where the wine remained for 34 months, unracked until just before bottling.

I love the expressiveness of this wine, both aromatically and texturally, and pair it regularly with a variety of foods, including basic burgers and pizza to more complicated red meat dishes. The aromatics jump out of the glass, so sometimes I’ll just sit and smell it for hours (seriously!)

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