Notes on 2013 Halcon wines

Had a chance to taste through the wines of Paul Gordon’s Halcon Vineyards recently. A really good showing across the board:

2013 Esquisto (60/40 Mourvèdre/Grenache) - dark, roasted in a good way, spice, peppercorn, has a bit of riper character but drinks beautifully at 14.4% alcohol. A really nice GM blend.

2012 Syrah Alturas - very dark, beautiful nose of perfume and cloves (I believe this has a few percent viognier from the property); very nice medium rich dark black/boysenberry, meaty excellent structure, a touch of sweetness but great balance. Fabulous.

2013 Syrah Alturas - 30% whole cluster this year. Some of the same notes as the 2012 on the nose, but lighter and more floral; dark blackberry fruit, quite structured, needs time but should be excellent with a little time in bottle.

2013 Petite Sirah “Tierra” - fabulous nose showing a ton of interesting spice; Dark, dark, dense fruit, fairly structured, a hint of sweetness, fabulous petite but needs time. If you like Petite Sirah, buy this.

And some 2014 barrel samples:

2014 Pinot Noir Oppenlander Vineyard - delicious, dark fascinating flavor, boysenberry/mulberry, a really intriguing Pinot, has all the right cool climate character with this deliciously different flavor profile.

2014 Grenache/Mourvèdre (66/33) - beautiful dark red fruits, fabulous flavor, really nice even this early.

2014 Syrah Alturas - just fantastic, medium dark fruit, great balance, going to be excellent

2014 Petite Sirah - boysenberry pie in a glass without the sweetness, dense, dark as night, maybe the best Petite I can remember having. I don’t drink a lot of wine like this, but I will buy this.

Really good producer I only recently became aware of. Have some that I plan to try in the near future, thanks to B-Day. But I sure remember liking all of the wines I tried at a fairly large tasting. His wines were the standouts in a very crowded field.

I have always liked the 09/10/11 Alturas, but the 12 was a big step up for me. Thanks for the notes on the 13/14’s, excited to try them! I find that all these wines show better with a day or so of air.

Alan was at that “fairly large tasting” Greg. Thanks for the look Alan. Lots of value there.

Thanks for the notes. Great values. As for the 2014, we use Halcon Syrah as part of our blend. I barrel tasted those last week. Wow. Really concentrated and getting a wonderful maturity and ripeness from the grapes while keeping to his sense of (cool climate) place. Paul keeps stepping up his game every vintage. He credits the age of the wines, and that might be true, but I think he is also figuring out his vineyard.

Thanks guys
I am liking the '14s so far. Given the early pick dates I was concerned that there would not be full maturity. At this stage it is quite the opposite - even lots with 100% whole-cluster are refined, nothing green at all.
Our finished 2014 reds will be around 35% whole-cluster across the board.

These sound great. Looking forward to trying them. Any of you east coasters received your BD orders, yet?

I can answer my own question here, as my order arrived earlier this week. Popped the 2013 Esquisto last night. Highly enjoyable mourvedre-dominant blend that changed quite a bit as the bottle opened over the course of a couple of hours. Great buy.