Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
The Hope winery has produced one of the best Grenaches of the vintage. Avoids the common pitfalls of this tricky variety to give a bone dry, softly tannic wine that’s rich in black cherry, prosciutto and black pepper flavors. The texture is so silky, you could substitute this for Pinot Noir.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2009 Grenache is an expressive, radiant wine graced with red fruit, rose petals, flowers and licorice. It reveals lovely inner perfume and sweetness, although some of the sheer juiciness of the fruit tapers off just a touch on the finish. Anticipated maturity: 2012-2017.
Grenache thrives in any warm, Mediterranean climate where ample sunlight allows its clusters to achieve full phenolic ripeness. While Grenache's birthplace is Spain (there called Garnacha), today it is more recognized as the key player in the red blends of the Southern Rhône, namely Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Côtes du Rhône and its villages. Somm Secret—The Italian island of Sardinia produces bold, rustic, single varietal Grenache (there called Cannonau). California, Washington and Australia have achieved found success with Grenache, both flying solo and in blends.
The largest and perhaps most varied of California’s wine-growing regions, the Central Coast produces a good majority of the state's wine. This vast California wine district stretches from San Francisco all the way to Santa Barbara along the coast, and reaches inland nearly all the way to the Central Valley.
Encompassing an extremely diverse array of climates, soil types and wine styles, it contains many smaller sub-AVAs, including San Francisco Bay, Monterey, the Santa Cruz Mountains, Paso Robles, Edna Valley, Santa Ynez Valley and Santa Maria Valley.
While the Central Coast California wine region could probably support almost any major grape varietiy, it is famous for a few Central Coast reds and whites. Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel are among the major ones. The Central Coast is home to many of the state's small, artisanal wineries crafting unique, high-quality wines, as well as larger producers also making exceptional wines.