The Grenache is love it/hate it. I will say this: You will never mistake it for cdp.
Syrah is of course the raison d’etre. They manage to maintain the Old World sensibility of the grape in an amped-up form that is pretty quickly accessible. They have all been delicious in my experience, even if I might struggle to tell them apart.
Thanks Kelly. I bought some Pandora on the last release, will definitely give it a try before the next release. Being that Seymour and Lorraine are the same price I might grab a few of each.
Kelly, accessible is not a word that comes to mind about Alban. The wines are fantastic and i to will be buying from this list but ive found they need a good amount of time sideways before drinking. The exception being the Patrina which is made for more immediate drinking.
Had an 06 Reva last week and it was still a monster and not very forgiving. No rubber tire phase which was good, but just a monster.
The viogniers are a prime example of new world ripe, unctuous viognier - if that’s the style you like, go for it. I find I like these younger rather than with age, so my advice is drink them sooner rather than later.
The grenaches do tend to be pretty big and bold - and definitely benefit from many years of bottle age.
No roussanne offered at this time? I adore this bottling - and love it with at least a decade worth of bottle time. It holds its alcohol much better than the viognier IMHO and is one of the best new world examples out there.
Patrina is my semi-house wine - absolutely love that juice, and it’s a good price point. You can never go wrong with Seymour, but as has been mentioned, do not overlook the Viognier as it is tremendous.
I bought Alban Reva for several years (at least 3-4 vintages) and never received a regular offering of Seymour or Lorraine except for a “flash” offering for a 2010. Cheers!
I’ll have to double check and see if I’m on the waiting list. I know several wineries wouldn’t put us Oklahomans on the list unless you called and provided them another shipping address. With the new law change in October they can now legally ship direct. Turley sent me a postcard this winter to specifically tell me I was now on the list for this reason.
2000 Alban Lorraine and 2003 Cayuse En Cerise in one tasting flipped me from drinking exclusively Cabernet Sauvignon to almost exclusively Syrah in 2016.
Ive been buying Reva for 4 years, this was my first Lorraine and Seymour offer.
Its a pretty high entry price but i could not resist a couple of each and the grenache, these will be hidden away for 10-15 years minimum, if they are let out they will still be untamed !! however once tamed their is no bigger more satisfying wine than an Alban, the wines just have a savouriness and black pudding goodness to them that nothing ive tasted matches and when your in that mood its awesome.
Its like music, you mostly listen to easy going stuff, occasionally a bit more but once in a while you want full belt Mahler, that is Alban, its Mahler #2
For joining as recently as you did, you absolutely scored with your allocation.
I opened the 2014 Reva recently and with a long decant it was awesome.
I may open one of my Pandora’s for this year’s birthday.