TN: 2006 Tercero Grenache Camp 4 Vineyard (USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Ynez Valley)

  • 2006 Tercero Grenache Camp 4 Vineyard - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Ynez Valley (7/8/2009)
    Nose was predominantly of cherry with some nutmeg/cinnamon/clove components. Bright but ripe fruit on the nose. Had a flour component that reminded me of some RRV pinots. The wine in the mouth is medium bodied and has a sweet fruit component. I don’t think there’s any RS, it’s just ripe. However, the ripeness is not marred by extraction or heavyhanded oak. The wine also has some mild acidity and tannin that keep it in check. Just a bit riper that I usually like to drink, but man o man it was right what I was looking for tonight. Held up fairly well to a brawny turkey meatloaf my wife made.

Posted from CellarTracker

Based on some of the other wines from Tercero I’ve had, I’m guessing that this is what a good wine maker does with riper fruit. I really liked this tonight. It had enough ripeness to be potentially polarizing on another night, but it sang tonight. Delicious.

Scott

Scott,

Thanks for the notes - and glad you liked this wine! The fruit got very ripe that year, so the apparent sweetness if from some serious ripeness indeed! Camp 4 grenache will always be a bit more ‘fruity’ than my other grenaches simply because of site - will tend to have more lifted aromatics, something I just plain DIG about grenache!

I blended 15% syrah into this grenache - the first and hopefully last time I will do so to my grenaches because I really love the uniqueness of the varietal characteristics of grenache itself and don’t want to mask it in any way. . . I HAD to in 06 because it was soooo candied that I actually needed to ratchet it back a bit . . .

Can’t wait for you and others to try the 07 version from this vineyard - not nearly as ripe, with 25% whole cluster to add structure and a another level of complexity on the aromatics . . .

Cheers!