Unfiltered garnet running milky-clear at the rim. Big, full nose bursting with ripe plum, root-beer and berry. It’s a grimy sort of roundness: matching the appearance in the glass but so candy-shop perfumed you have to look hard for bits of earthy barnyard lurking below but which make strong appearances with fresh swirls. Tough to call the alcohol on this–knowing these guys it will be low, but the ripeness and legs tell me it HAS to be north of 13 somewhere. But it’s not *big*–as Grenache shouldn’t be–it’s just delicious-smelling and full.
Tasting it solidifies why I have called this brand numerous times the absolute DE FACTO starting point for anyone hesitant about “natural” or “low-intervention” wines. They just DON’T make a bad wine! These things are so good, so brilliant, so solid, so professional and clean, you quite lose sight of their stated purpose in winemaking. These guys literally don’t give a shit what anybody thinks, and just continue churning out gorgeous, yummy wines without flair, fantasy or dogma. Rich and decadent on the palate, while watery-crisp and plowed with acid. Rusty steel and citrus minerality don’t let the fruit get all wacko-Paso in eye-rolling concentration or heaviness. Jolly Rancher: watermelon, cinnamon and orange, distill themselves down into the bitter cranberry and chubby cherry enough to create lip-smacking appeal in a wine DEAD SERIOUS. The rasp of structure invades all points, finally turning the mouth-feel into a teeth-wiping affair stunning in virtuosity and diceable perfection.
You CAN’T not like this wine. There’s no way. Not if you’re a serious wine person with an objective palate. I’ll just lay down the gauntlet right here: If you don’t like this wine there’s something wrong with you. You’ve addled yourself on jam & vodka & oak & Wagner MegaPurple bullshit and the constant stream of wine-bro $200 Napa *tasting experiences* and your opinion doesn’t matter. You have a sweet-tooth. Your palate has been dumbed down by marketing and Instagram and stupidity. You don’t know wine. And this is 24 bucks. People constantly be like: McConnell, you’ll never be taken seriously until you stop posting $24 wines! and I’m like, No. You’re the one who’s not serious. You’re a joke in the wine community. This is real wine.
2019 DEUX PUNX Grenache Tejada Vyd Lake Co California 14.0
Stephen McConnell 