Blind? I might go Raj Parr or Forlorn Hope or even Grenachista carbonic. NOT some sultry winemaker from Napa. Thin and shockingly citric, the nose a melange of bitter orange and bush water with high spicy notes compelling and sharp. But there’s a dank Grenache depth to it, even before you taste it. Still, it smells and tastes of something far from mainstream concentration and lushness–as has almost become the norm–blending hi-falutin cosmic arrays of variety potential with thin, sharp, acidic, almost *natural-wine* body. There’s some classic Grenache dark fruit hidden away, but this is NOT something you give your 99% wine friend at the Secret Santa mixer. Despite its KoolAid composure and Jolly Rancher posing, it smells alcoholic and has a bit of burn to it, something I am happy to see as it usually works a a great preservative and fruit-litmus for wines of this body in the next decade. As something of this pedigree should easily visit. Bottom line: you’re gonna like this–if you happen to be a thinker–but Saxum it is NOT.

2022 CHIRON ‘Unfamiliar Truth’ Grenache Portico Hills Vyd Santa Barbara County 14.1