Community Tasting Notes 5

• MattMauldin Likes this wine: 92 points

  February 13, 2021 - Light ruby color, clear with bright tones. Savory aromas of autumn leaves, anise, potpourri spices, tea leaves and hibiscus, along with fruit notes of cherry and braised dates. Fresh, expressive red fruit on the palate, slightly candied, with ample secondary notes leading with anise and five spice and lots of earth. Dense and fleshy middle core, succulent acid, with round grippy tannins and rich depth on the finish. Early secondary, showing very well.

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• MattMauldin Likes this wine:

  February 6, 2021 - Tasting at Samsara: Aromas of strawberry & fig, sandalwood, cracked pepper, black tea and allspice. Great integration and finesse on the palate. Nice intensity of fruit, with seamless secondary layers, fine tannin and great length. Excellent, and showing beautifully.

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• RajivAyyangar wrote:

  April 25, 2018 - Ruinart Challenge and Winemaking Lecture (The Battery, SF): (blind)
  I don't know what happened here. I was struggling with a note I couldn't place - sort of faded green savory moldy coffee. Then my memory seemed to click - pyrazines with age, like an aged Chinon. Essentially I tasted aged pyrazines with no oak.
  
  Structurally the low tannins, elevated acid, and medium body and alcohol seemed consistent with this.
  
  Guess: 2007 Chinon
  Actual: 2012 Paso Grenache
  Analysis: I have no clue what happened here. This is not a fair mistake - I must have had a crazy sensory mistake, or else this is a very, very strange Grenache.
  
  This is a bit unusual for Paso Grenache, structurally. From the producer website:
  
  13.8% alcohol
  pH 3.52
  TA 5.8 g
  100% whole cluster fermentation
  24 months in neutral oak
  
  Still, even if this is a lighter style of Grenache, it doesn't explain my olfactory hallucination of aged pyrazines. I need to try to find this.

  Comments (1)

• Wine Problems Likes this wine: 93 points

  March 16, 2018 - Excellent Grenache, but then again, Chad Melville does not make a bad wine! Drank this over two days, and I wouldn't say it got any better or worse on day 2, but it did change a touch. The bouquet on this was beautiful, initially with notes of red and black fruit, and a bit of cedar. By day two, lots of red fruit and a bit of cola, on the nose. On the palate, raspberry, and a hint of smokiness, which evolved on day 2 to cherry, raspberry, strawberry, and cola. It was consistently very smooth and balanced throughout, with silky tannins and a lingering delicious finish.

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• indianwino Likes this wine: 92 points

  July 31, 2016 - Nice light, restrained wine, strawberry notes, plenty of acidity, tannins, good stuff

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Pro Reviews 3

Wine Definition

• Vintage 2012
• Type Red
• Producer Samsara
• Varietal Grenache
• Designation n/a
• Vineyard Larner Vineyard
• Country USA
• Region California
• SubRegion Central Coast
• Appellation Santa Ynez Valley

Community Holdings

• Pending Delivery 0 (0%)
• In Cellars 28 (39%)
• Consumed 44 (61%)

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