Winemaker's Notes
In 2011 I was given the opportunity to work with a block of Kick Ranch Grenache that was not achieving the sugar level desired by the current buyer. Not being overly concerned with numbers and more concerned with flavor and texture, I was happy to work with this block in a vintage that was very challenging to ripen later varieties like Grenache I explored combining Grenache and Syrah as has been done in the Southern Rhone for generations in challenging vintages, allowing these two varieties to unite in a complimentary way. In ‘easy’ vintages, they work well together too. I did not invent this, I merely channeled well-established common sense from another area into my own backyard. We had a good series of exploring this with Kick Ranch as the Grenache portion till 2019.
In 2021, the Huntsman is all new sources of the Grenache and Syrah. The Grenache is from Provisor Vineyard in Dry Creek Valley while the Syrah is from McCoy Vineyard atop a mountain near Kick Ranch. The Grenache was on the very early side of the ripeness window, while the Syrah was on the later side, kind of reverse of what I had experienced in the past with other vineyards. Together, they remind me of the mid-1980’s Southern Rhone wines such as Sablet and Gigondas that I became smitten by over a third of a century ago.
Dusty, lusty and generous, this shows some of the ripeness that these aforementioned Southern Rhone wines. The Syrah portion brings both the higher tones to the aroma like panforte and lower tones like dark fruits, while the Grenache brings some non-fruit elements like petrichor, dust from a dirt road and structural integrity, quite a role-reversal of these two varieties for me. Since this is a rather different gestalt from the past, I’m pricing it below what I have already established.
