After my Grenache tirade last week, I had to pull one of these out. By now all of you are used to my rash over generalizations on wine, but still the Grenache thing stands. So many of them are just muddy, vague, too-glossy renditions of something pantomining at greatness. This is not one of them. This Mounts Vineyard Dry Creek Valley creeping up on 10 does indeed have some of that glossy over-generalization but deep inside it is an exquisite wine, complex and structured, fruit: a raspy stone age razor with acidity and tannin jammed up to the rafters. The bitter grit this thing exudes is shocking and the ripeness is kept in check with gracious fire and ice. Beautiful crisp berry not conceding a trace of tertiary but aging gracefully and wonderfully. So bright, so lovely. A true testament to what this grape in the right hands can do.

2017 @the.grenachista #grenache Mounts Vyd DCV #sonomacountywine 14.6