Community Tasting Notes 11

• mclanew wrote: 93 points

  December 31, 2023 - Popped and poured. Big nose of violets, raspberry fruitcake. The wine is full bodied, palate staining, uber concentrated, over the top rich, but also has pretty good freshness and acidity. Black raspberry, fruitcake, earth, iron and lingering spice come through. On the finish there is some heat reflecting the 15.9 percent octane. I admire this wine but find it a little bit hard work to drink. Many would score this higher than me.

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• WineDoctors wrote: 93 points

  August 6, 2022 - with chile verde...sublime

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• gsiokis Likes this wine: 94 points

  April 14, 2022 - Such a great Grenache. No formal notes. Has a long life in front of this one......Previous note: Christmas dinner wine. Don't have any have any tasting notes outside of that everyone really enjoyed this wine and was the favorite of the evening.

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• RhoneWho wrote: 98 points

  March 24, 2022 - 2013 vintage was my first time tasting “oldest’ Alban's grenache last year. I was surprised by its primary flavor and vibrancy after 8 years. This wine can definitely still age gracefully (like its single vineyard syrah) and has a couple of years from its peak and will cruise for another 5-7 years given its structure. (Note: we left 1/3 bottle and tasted it over a few days and got better overtime without oxidation!-- great ultra-polish ellagi-tannin at work! probably resulting from its long French oak barrel aging).
  
  The bouquet is aromatic with ripe dark fruit and sexy floral nose like those from SQN's grenache. The flavor is rich black raspberry and cocoa with savory Provencal notes.
  
  As compared to the recent release of 2016 Alban Grenache Estate, the latter has more fruit forward and incredible velvety texture such that it’s so approachable and smooth (no hard edges) upon release. I could imagine drinking the 2013 vintage 5 years ago would be very powerful and may rated it then 96-97.
  
  Scoring Range: 97-99; it's still peaking and won't be surprise hitting 99+ in a few years ...

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• seijaro Likes this wine: 97 points

  March 13, 2021 - Wowee, pure ambrosia... sweet plums and vanilla, smooth, full, what a delight! This is what we expect Alban Grenache to be since the 2005 blew us away at a sidewalk restaurant in Delray Beach. It's why we are disappointed when it is merely very good.

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Pro Reviews 3

Wine Definition

• Vintage 2013
• Type Red
• Producer Alban Vineyards
• Varietal Grenache
• Designation n/a
• Vineyard Alban Estate Vineyard
• Country USA
• Region California
• SubRegion Central Coast
• Appellation Edna Valley

Community Holdings

• Pending Delivery 1 (0%)
• In Cellars 212 (56%)
• Consumed 166 (44%)

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