Friday Night Wines: Herman Story & Saxum

WINE TALK
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  • 2005 Herman Story Grenache Larner Vineyard - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Ynez Valley (6/5/2009)
    Popped and poured, drank over 2 hours. This is really a luscious wine. Dark for a grenache, but showing all the characteristics of the grape. Dark red fruits, allspice, clove. Wonderful mouthfeel, coating the teeth, lips and tongue. Rich and smooth with an eternal finish.
  • 2006 Saxum Broken Stones - USA, California, Central Coast, Paso Robles (6/5/2009)
    Decanted 3 hours, drank over 3. This wine has really started to come together. Harmonious, smooth, supple, rich & elegant. Fresh dark fruits, zesty acidity, earthy, meaty, delicious. Such wonderful complexity.

Posted from CellarTracker

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Glad to read about the 06 Broken stones . . . I opened an 05 broken stones last night and it was in a GREAT place, very concentrated and lush.

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Hemran Story wines are amazing values. Russell From knows what he is doing!

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that 06 Broken Stones is a tough wine to lay off. I don’t want to open another one because then I’ll only have 1 left…but it is soooo good.

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Daniel,

I couldn’t agree more. His wines are always lush and delicious, and the wines he makes with Mac, Barrel 27, are without a doubt QPR gems!

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I had that same grenache (alongside the syrah Larner Vineyard) a couple of months ago and was blown away. They were both absolutely fantastic.

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Yoni,

His 2005 White Hawk Syrah is one of the best Central Coast syrahs that I have ever had.

Brian

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Brian, Dana and I just had wines from the same places on Saturday night. Ours was the '07 Herman Story White Hawk Syrah and the '06 Saxum James Berry Vineyard. I will post our notes on those soon, but the '07 White Hawk is also very good.

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Couldnt agree more. Had the pleasure of tasting Russ’ new releases at a dinner recently. He makes some great, age worthy syrah’s and grenaches, and a stellar viognier as well (definately worth seeking out). The white hawk was definately the standout amount the bottles, as well as being the most approachable at this point. Doesnt hurt that Russ is one of the nicest guys you could imagine. As a sidenote, Mac’s new bottlings (McPrice Myers) are mind blowing this year as well–the beautiful earth was jaw dropping good at $36!

You should check out Mac and Russ’ new napa cab project-“The Four.” All stagecoach fruit. Inaugural release is being scored in June’s WS.

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I agree with your take on the Herman Story grenache. Luscious is a good descriptor. Here’s my note from about a month ago:

2005 Herman Story Grenache Larner Vineyard (USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Ynez Valley) 4/15/2009 JFish
Dark fruit with a hint of earth on the nose. On the palate, big and lush but not over-ripe or flabby. Dark cherry, earth and some dark chocolate in the background. This bottle was drinking very well and was a surprise to me, hiding its 15.9% alcohol very well behind the wall of fruit.

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Hate to pile on here, but I will agree that Ruseell knows what the heck he is doing! His winemaking style, IMHO, is still evolving as he appears to be throttling back a bit on his reds . . .

It also helps when you work with great fruit - and the Larner Vyd truly is a spectacular site for grenache and syrah. I was lucky enough to begin getting syrah fruit from there in 07 (and both syrah and grenache in 08), and it truly is a special vineyard!

Cheers!

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Russell & Mac are both salt of the earth guys. They’ll be down here for a dinner on Russell’s birthday. Looking forward to tasting their new releases and opening something special in honor of his birthday.