by Tom Hill

A self-admitted wine geek, Tom lives in Northern New Mexico and works as a computational physicist at Los Alamos National Laboratory doing numerical neutron transport & large scale code development. He has been tasting wines since 1971, participates locally with a couple of large tasting groups in his area, and is practically a fixture at most California wine festivals, such as the Hospice du Rhône, Rhône Rangers, and ZAP. Other interests: Tom is heavily into competitive sport fencing (foil & epee), biking, cooking, basketball, skiing, backpacking, mountain climbing.

We tasted last week (5/30/07) some Grenache/Mourvedre/Blends :

1. SierraVista ElDorado Grenache (EB; 13.5%) 2005: Med.color; slight earthy/dusty/ElDorado
   terroir bit Rhonish light strawberry/Grenache; some earthy/dusty/Rhonisg slight metallic light Grenache/strawberry flavor; med.long Rhonish/earthy/dusty light strawberry/Grenache
   finish w/ no tannins; a pleasant little CdR-level Grenache. $19.25
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2. Novy JudgeFamilyVnyd/BennettVlly Grenache (14.5%) 2004: Med.color; light toasty/oak strong blackberry/strawberry/Grenache candied pretty nose; tart light bright/candied/strawberry/
   Grenache pretty simple flavor; med.short pretty candied/strawberry/soda pop finish w/little tannins; a pretty little Grenache but just that. $21.00
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3. VIE "L'Imaginaire" Grenache SonomaCnty (14.7%; AltaMesa/WhiteHawk Grenache + ThompsonVnyd/Syrah + AltaMesa/Mourvedre) 2005: Med.dark color; rather spicy deep/ Grenache/strawberry slight peppery interesting/attractive nose; tart bright/strawberry/ Grenache/ spicy slight earthy/peppery flavor; slight bitter/tannic light earthy bright/strawberry/Grenache
   slight peppery/spicy finish w/ some tannins; needs a yr or two; lots of pretty/bright strawberry/ Grenache fruit; bit pricey at $39.00
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4. Kenneth-Crawford Grenache LarnerVnyd/SantaYnezVlly (15.5%) 2004: Med.dark color; deep very spicy/peppery boysenberry/jammy/strawberry Oz-like light toasty/oak bit alcoholic/overripe nose; tart bit tannic/hard very ripe/boysenberry/strawberry/jammy bit hot/alcoholic Oz-like/jammy flavor; very long jammy/ripe/boysenberry/strawberry/Grenache slight toasty/oak bit alcoholic finish; needs several yrs; rather Oz-like w/o the oak. $35.00
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5. Jaffurs SantaBarbaraCnty Grenache (14.8%) 2005: Dark color; slight earthy/funky strong
   blackberry/strawberry/Grenache light oak/pungent very pretty nose; tart light tannic bright/fruity/ strawberry/Grenache slight Nehi soda pop flavor; bit tannic bright/strawberry/Grenache slight earthy light oak/toasty finish; needs several yrs; a rather pretty Grenache. $27.00
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6. K-Vintners TheBoy WallaWallaVlly (68% Grenache, 18% Syrah, 14%Mourvedre; 14.1%;
   www.K-Syrah.com) 2004: Dark color; rather roasted/smoky/Rhonish slight cabbagey some toasty/
   oak/peppery slight Grenache/strawberry interesting nose; some Rhonish/funky/roasted some
   toasty/oak/smokey bit peppery tart slight cabbagey flavor; long smokey/pungent/Rhonish/roasted light toasty/oak slight funky/cabbagey finish w/ sligght tannins; needs several yrs; lots of WashState terroir and not much fruit; quite an interesting/Rhonish red. $36.00
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7. OjaiVnyd Grenache PurismaMtnVnyd/SBCnty (14.5%) 2003: Dark color;beautiful boysenberry/
   blackberry/framboise slight meaty essence of Grenache slight herbal/leafy nose; soft intense
   framboise/boysenberry/blackberry essence of framboise slight toasty/oak flavor; very long
   blackberry/boysenberry essence of framboise slight toasty/oak finish w/ some tannins; big extracted almost Alban-like Grenache; terrific wine. $37.00
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8. OjaiVnyd Grenache ThompsonVnyd/SBC (14.5%) 2004: Very dark color; very spicy/peppery bit
   meaty some toasty/oak more Syrah-like/blackberry nose; tart spicy/meaty some blackberry some toasty/oak rather tannic flavor; long tannic spicy/meaty some blackberry/strawberry
   light toasty/oak finish; speaks less of Grenach and more of Thompson terroir; terrific/interesting Grenache. $37.00
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9. Core 163 SantaBarbaraCnty RW CuyamaVlly (28% Syrah, 60% Grenache, 12%Mourvedre; 620 cs;.5-3 tons/acre; 14.9%) 2004: Dark color; strong plummy/blackberry/black cherry/ boysenberry loads of fruit nose; soft very lush plummy/blackberry/boysenberry very ripe slight toasty/oak rather Oz-like flavor; long slight toasty/oak ripe/plummy/boysenberry huge fruit finish
   w/ light tannins; big/huge fruit wine in an Oz style; very good price. $24.00
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10. Core hard core SantaBarbaraCnty (32% Mourvedre, 43% Grenache, 25%CabSauv; 285 cs;
    14.9%) 2004: Very dark color; slight herbal/Cab/leafy some plummy/blackberry interesting nose; tart rather herbal/Cab/leafy light plummy/blackberry bit simple flavor; med.long some herbal/Cab finish w/ some tannins; interesting off-beat red that seems dominated by the Cab. $29.00
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11. Core elevation sensation alta mesa vnyd/CuyamaVlly/SantaBarbaraCnty(44% Mourvedre, 54% Grenache, 2% Syrah; 160 cs; 15.2%; www.CoreWine.com) 2004: Very dark color; ripe/ lovely very plummy/black cherry/blackberry bit earthy/dusty interesting light/ toasty/oak nose; soft plummy/boysenberry/black cherry some cola/DrPepper light dusty/earthy light toasty/oak flavor; long very plummy/blackberry/cola/DrPepper finish w/ some tannins; needs several yrs. $36.00
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12. SierraVista ElDorado Mourvedre (EB; 13.7%) 2004: Dark color; very strong mushroomy/plummy/
    ContraCosta-like slight earthy/dusty nose; tart earthy/dusty/ElDorado terroir light plummy fruit flavor; med. light plummy rather dusty/earthy finish w/light tannins; mostly about ElDorado terroir and not much fruit; pleasant red. $19.00
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13. EricTexier VielliesVignes Chateauneuf du Pape (13.5%) 2000: Med.color; rather roasted/
    smokey/pungent/NortherRhone slight brettty/funky complex nose; strong bretty/horsecollar
    Grenache/strawberry rather toasty/roasted some pungent/oak some peppery/NR complex flavor;
    long pungent/smokey/oak rather roasted/NR some strawberry/Grenache some bretty/horsecollar
    finish; unusual CdP w/ a lot of NorthernRhone/roasted character; should still go for several more yrs. Larry's mystery.
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14. Garretson Grenache RozetVnyd/TempletonGap/PasoRobles (15.2%; 200 cs) 2003: Dark color; loads of strawberry/Grenache/fruity very attractive/pretty nose; soft fairly bright/
    strawberry/Grenache big fruit bit simple flavor; med.long bright/strawberry/Grenache finish
    w/ light tannins; a rather pretty Grenache that's ready to drink.
    
    

1. By and large; this collection of Grenaches didn't much float my boat. Except for the Ojais.
When it comes to Grenache, John Alban clearly rules.
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2. CoreWines: I have liked Dave Corey's wines quite a bit in the past. These three wines were
no exception. Good/tasty red wines at fair prices. If there was any criticism of them, it would be that they were a bit unfocused. The differences between them were not that striking. But I think Dave is making some of the best Mourvedre-based wines out there. I love his CandyCore LateHrvst Grenache. And at HdR, I had my first Core white, an '05 GrenacheBlanc/ Marsanne/Roussanne blend that I was favorably impressed
with.

TomHill