Hi
Anyone treid the 2012 Denners at the winery ?
I will be buying but im not sure what to add, Ditch Digger, Dirt Worshipper, Syrah or Grenache. Im leaning towards the Syrah
Alan
Alan, we tasted the 2012s in barrel during our last visit (December 2013) and I thought they were excellent. I wrote about my impressions here: Denner Vineyards 2011 Vintage and 2012 Barrel Tasting - WINE TALK - WineBerserkers
…As for the particular wines, both the Dirt Worshipper and Ditch Digger showed to be very promising. Their Syrah dominated 2012 barreled Dirt Worshipper showed beautiful fresh blue and black fruits along with nuanced candied violets, pepper spice, baking spice, cedar and smoked meat elements. The 2012 barreled Ditch Digger seemed possessed by the Grenache at the time which showed beautifully with rich raspberry fruit, rosewater and baking spice elements. Both wines showed great depth, structure and acid as is typical with Anthony’s wines.
However, most promising was the 2012 Mourvedre and a project 2012 Grenache. The Mourvedre, which included 20% Counoise, had incredible warm spice aromatics with the Counoise bringing a level of freshness and expressiveness to the Mourvedre. Here there were dark, fresh dark fruit elements, violets and a mid-palate dominated by baking spices on a layer of earth spices from Mourvedre. There was tremendous depth in the mid-palate and it finished with solid acidity and firm structure. I found it thoroughly charming and a beautiful, feminine expression of Mourvedre that was rather special. …
I’ll likely be adding a bottle or two of the 2012 Grenache when we visit to pick up our shipment, but I may wait until tasting through the wines again.
Taylor
Great info
Did you taste the 100% Syrah, i really enjoyed the 2010 but they never bottled in 20111. I will take my Comus six pack but i dont know how much Syrah and Grenache to add, especailly with your reports on the Grenache
I think Denner is very underrated, thier wines to me arer up their with the big players in Paso, I think they have a level of sophistication that has developed ahead of the curve. My only concern is that the 11’s and some of the 10’s were a little withdrawn compared to the 8’ and 9’s, ive discussed here about that being a stylistic difference from Anthony or just a result of the fruit available , any thoughts ?
Alan
Those are most likely vintage differences (08 and especially 09 were ripe years, 10 and especially 11 were cool years). 12 is another ripe year. That’s generalizing, of course.
I’ve really liked the Ditch Digger and the Grenache in the past; if I were going to add anything, I’d add those.
Don’t think you can go wrong with any option, but I got extra Dirt Worshipper.
I emailed the winery and after discussion I went with extra Syrah and a couple of Grenache for fun
The Dirt Worshipper and Mother of Exiles have been our favorites the last 2 years. We like big, bold and smooth long finishing wines and these both hit the spot. Yes, Denner is underrated but that’s ok… Keeps the cost reasonable.
Albert
Did you get to try the 2009 Exile, that was fantastic juice. I have two bottle left and everytime I think about opening one I stop because then I will be down to my last bottle !!!