Winemaker Notes
With intense garrigue aromas on the nose, think fields of lavender, thyme and rosemary and a wonderfully juicy palate of brambly fruits like strawberries and blackberries, violets, stone, citrus peel and baking spices. This is accentuated by mouth-coating tannins and punctuated with a fresh palate pleasing finish.
Blend: 52% Grenache, 48% Mourvèdre
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
Zesty and spicy, with appealing raspberry, dried cherry and smoky cinnamon flavors that persist toward fine-grained tannins. Grenache and Mourvedre. Drink now through 2024. 445 cases made.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Lastly, the 2016 Simone is also outstanding and has loads of character. A blend of 52% Grenache and 48% Mourvèdre brought up in 30% new barrels, its offers terrific blueberry-like fruits as well as notes of spiced meats, ground pepper, and leafy herbs. Medium to full-bodied, concentrated, and balanced, it will be even better with a handful of years of bottle age and I suspect drink beautifully through 2026.
Rating:90+
With bold fruit flavors and accents of sweet spice, Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre form the base of the classic Rhône Red Blend, while Carignan, Cinsault and Counoise often come in to play. Though they originated from France’s southern Rhône Valley, with some creative interpretation, Rhône blends have also become popular in other countries. Somm Secret—Putting their own local spin on the Rhône Red Blend, those from Priorat often include Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. In California, it is not uncommon to see Petite Sirah make an appearance.
As the lower part of the greater Sierra Foothills appellation, Amador is roughly a plateau whose vineyards grow at 1,200 to 2,000 feet in elevation. It is 100 miles east of both San Francisco and Napa Valley. Most of its wineries are in the oak-studded rolling hillsides of Shenandoah Valley or east in Fiddletown, where elevations are slightly higher.
The Sierra Foothills growing area was among the largest wine producers in the state during the gold rush of the late 1800s. The local wine industry enjoyed great success until just after the turn of the century when fortune-seekers moved elsewhere and its population diminished. With Prohibition, winemaking was totally abandoned, along with its vineyards. But some of these, especially Zinfandel, still remain and are the treasure chest of the Sierra Foothills as we know them.
Most Amador vines are planted in volcanic soils derived primarily from sandy clay loam and decomposed granite. Summer days are hot but nighttime temperatures typically drop 30 degrees and the humidity is low, making this an ideal environment for grape growing. Because there is adequate rain throughout the year and even snow in the winter, dry farming is possible.