Every time I see these guys’ pictures on their website, I immediately go to the two thieving skate-punks in HIGH FIDELITY sittin on the sidewalk, “And you’re gonna get a fat Mercedes out of it.” You can always EXPECT this label to think outside the box. Pale clear perfect Grenache garnet with a bit of dusty black murk at the center. Quite startling nose: a bright green-peach candy strawberry waffle weed-bed extravaganza not quite sweet and cherubic–not quite dirty. It’s a bright high-note candy dragging a sack full of concentrated rocks behind. It smells like skins.
And then you taste it. More candy–hard Jolly Rancher and Laffy Taffy–crazily twisted around sumptuous sweet plum, PEZ, and muddy-boot concentration. Pithy structure coats the middle, turning the fruit even more tangy and introducing some anise-tinged vegetal in the slightly-hot finish.
I’m trying to think of the last Grenache I had which pulled out all these stops. It’s an odd wine only die-hard natural wine fans will love. Finding balance in it is hard. But it’s a good wine. It works. It actually works. If you pull your mind’s boundaries a little this way and stretch them a little that way, it all comes into focus. There’s nothing like this on any shelf anywhere. I’ve never had anything like this in my life. You should probably try this wine. I’d love to hear what you think.
2019 DEUX PUNX Grenache Lake County California 14.0
Stephen McConnell 