Grenache is such an under-appreciated grape with the masses. Screw all the chubby GSM’s in the Red Blend section–those are often the only experience the 99 have with Grenache and most of them are void of character. And if ever there was an argument for *Grenache delivers what Pinot promises* this bottle is point and mark. Supple, velvety and luscious, a nose both dirty, funky and polished, showing exquisite fruit dedication in a grainy perspective that will make your eyes roll back into their sockets in delirium. Clear garnet, thin, transparent and going against ALL the place-marks of today’s thick purple elixirs, dank and complex, the layers eroding off in near inexplicable fashion. You wonder how a wine this light of body can carry such exuberance, but that is the beauty of true Pinot–and Grenache.
And then you taste it. Stunningly easy and alive on entry: gasps of salty air and dripping leaves show cores of chilly splendor against seedy meat so concentrated the mind boggles. Ripe apple, ridiculous layers of tropical floral and still managing bitter gloriousness, this *could* possibly be the best wine this producer has ever made. Warm and inviting throughout the middle into a deep finish of velvet tannin and forever sharp berry, the balance not lacking in any regard and the final outcome nothing short of spectacular. A wine that will blow your mind which will polish for decades in extravagant fashion. It’s just so fucking good.
2021 DUSTY NABOR Grenache Spear Vyd Santa Rita Hills Santa Barbara Co 14.5
Stephen McConnell 