2009 Tercero Grenache Watch Hill Vineyard- USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Barbara County (7/26/2013)
1 hr decant. Expressive nose of bright red cherry, licorice and black pepper. The palate is really well balanced between acidity and mid palate weight with bright red and black fruits, baking spice, coffee and black pepper. Lingering finish. looking forward to seeing these age. (92 pts.)
Opened one of these last night, draining the bottle tonight. This is really good grenache. I don’t drink a lot of grenache but my template has long been Rayas, mainly Pignan. Where those wines are perhaps more delicate, more pepper and lower in the fruit register, Larry’s wine here is a brighter, bigger (not overdone) and loaded with red fruit. What this wine does for me is experess purity, without gobby oak (which is the beauty of Pignan and Rayas for me, on that point). I like it, Larry.
2009 Tercero Grenache Watch Hill Vineyard- USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Barbara County (9/12/2013)
Open and pour. I really enjoyed this earlier in the summer and this is my first revisit since that time. The first pour? Delicious red strawberry fruit, with some good grip through the core of the wine. Then a nice anise seed note in the finish, with a core of deep red cherry. This wine needs some air, which I am going to let it enjoy and then in 2 hours, we’ll see if it increases on the satisfaction meter…retasting the following day without food. Has some of the cool grenache aromatics, red fruited and spicy. The core of the fruit is what I enjoy, the deep strawberry and cherry core is really vivid. Pure finish with the red fruit, has a jolly rancher note and some astringence and structure. In sum, really about intense red fruit, medium plus in weight and enjoyable. Drink window? For me, now through say the next 3 years, as it does fine now and should do fine with a bit more time. Nicely done, Larry.
Thanks for the kind words, Frank. As you know, I don’t use new oak on any of my reds, but instead prefer to age them in 3-5 year old FR oak barrels. They certainly still benefit texture-wise from the oak, but the oak does not overwhelm any of the delicate nuances that the grape variety naturally brings to the table.
Can’t wait to share my 2010 greanches and grenache blends that I just bottled over the past two days with ya at some point.