Definitely a blend that catches your eye, and while Syrah and Viognier are common, I’m guessing this might be a South France thing, where the blends are crazy and completely undocumented on the label. Still. Petit Manseng HAS been compared to Viognier at least once, but this is Grenache! 15% is no small inclusion, either. The wine is not thin in color or density… It IS glowingly transparent even through deep pours–rimmed with rosy garnet–but I wouldn’t call it “thin”. A solid, SOLID Grenache nose flows from the glass, a ridiculously-accurate and gorgeous Grenache bouquet: herbal and flushed with honeyed ripeness, the glow of sunshine kissing tapenade and slight earth. Glances of Meyer lemon lay nearly un-noticed beneath flush plum, pear and apricot, a little leather and strawberry velvet casting a ripe-floral spell.
I’m going to use a phrase here I despise. “This is world-class wine.” Often thrown around by some dude who thinks Caymus is world class wine, typically directed toward regions FAR beyond *burgeoning*–wine-producing areas PROVEN able to play on the world stage an un-countable number of times, further highlighting the user’s ignorance. But this is Arizona. We’ve been through this. I don’t think they’ll be butthurt if I cast this eye-rolling descriptor their direction. These hi-elevation and restricted degree-day wines show a version of ripeness often affecting the fruit into a profile impossible to compare to old world or established, proven regions. But this wine doesn’t get that asterisk. Neither did a recent Malbec.
The stunning qualities this wine effortlessly presents continues into the mouth. Luscious while spicy, rimmed with bitter reflections of acid and grapefruit minerality, it carries textbook varietal typicity in clean, tightly-focused fashion, calmly and deliciously able to play on a field populated by Sonoma, Santa Ynez Valley, and even Southern Rhone. It’s near-perfect Grenache–if such a thing exists–and an absolute WORKHORSE on the table.
2019 CALLAGHAN VINEYARDS ‘Waverley’s’ GR/PM 85/15 Arizona 13.7
Stephen McConnell 