Clos Solene Hommage a nos Pairs Reserve 2008
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Robert
Parker -
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The brilliant 2008 Hommage a Nos Pairs is a blend of 96% Syrah and 4% Grenache from the Russell Family Vineyard on the west side of Highway 101, planted on limestone soils. Remarkably, it was aged in 100% new French oak for 18 months, but it doesn’t show much evidence of vanilla or toast. A beautiful blue/purple with oodles of black raspberries and floral notes intermixed with some boysenberry and wild mountain berries, this superb wine is full-bodied but elegant, with tremendous purity and richness.
Rating: 94+ -
Wine Spectator
Rustic and chewy, with a sweet-and-sour character, but also a sense of charm and focus, offering dense wild berry and blackberry fruit, with mineral, sage and cedary notes that are full-blown and powerful, yet focused and persistent, returning to the chewy tannins on the finish. Syrah and Grenache. Drink now through 2020.
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2012-
Robert
Parker
As a boy, Guillaume learned how to grow and care for the grapes. Guillaume lived on the winery in the south of France, Chateau Saint-Eugénie, until he was 22. He was attending University in 2000 when his family decided to sell its land and move the wine business to Bordeaux, in the Côtes de Bourg, Northwest Bordeaux City. Guillaume stayed behind but while visiting his family he met his true love, Solène.
Guillaume caught a glimpse of 19-year-old Solène and was determined to meet her. And that is when the bolt of lightning, “coup de foudre” happened...
Passionate about viticulture, Guillaume dreamed of exploiting the riches of that unique terroir and climate, using his experience, creativity and ideas to create his own wines. He had only to leave France and move to California to put his plan to work...
The couple parted, Solène to Spain to study Spanish language, literature and civilization, and Guillaume to Paso Robles, in California, the: New World, to intern at a winery. By the end of the internship, Guillaume was offered a permanent job, but the love between he and Solène was great and he had to have her come for him to accept the job.
She got a letter from him while she was still in Spain, with a round trip to Paso Robles and a note saying: “If you put your confidence in me and follow me, I will offer you, in the New World, a Clos Solène, where the aromas will be more intense and the colors more brilliant, reflecting what I create with you as my muse.” This is how the couple decided to permanently move to the States together.
All the while, Guillaume had the vision of creating his signature wine, “I always wanted to work on my own creation, it’s not easy to take over a family business. I needed to stay busy and make things my way.”
As the only person making his wine, Guillaume gets to control every aspect of his product, from beginning to end, from the vines to the bottled wine.
Solène and Guillaume have now a budding family with a 7 year-old daughter, Clementine, 5 year-old son, Jean, and the newest, Juliette.
Marked by an unmistakable deep purple hue and savory aromatics, Syrah makes an intense, powerful and often age-worthy red. Native to the Northern Rhône, Syrah achieves its maximum potential in the steep village of Hermitage and plays an important component in the Red Rhône Blends of the south, adding color and structure to Grenache and Mourvèdre. Syrah is the most widely planted grape of Australia and is important in California and Washington. Sommelier Secret—Such a synergy these three create together, the Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre trio often takes on the shorthand term, “GSM.”
Paso Robles has made a name for itself as a source of supple, powerful, fruit-driven Central Coast wines. But with eleven smaller sub-AVAs, there is actually quite a bit of diversity to be found in this inland portion of California’s Central Coast.
Just east over the Santa Lucia Mountains from the chilly Pacific Ocean, lie the coolest in the region: Adelaida, Templeton Gap and (Paso Robles) Willow Creek Districts, as well as York Mountain AVA and Santa Margarita Ranch. These all experience more ocean fog, wind and precipitation compared to the rest of the Paso sub-appellations. The San Miguel, (Paso Robles) Estrella, (Paso Robles) Geneso, (Paso Robles) Highlands, El Pomar and Creston Districts, along with San Juan Creek, are the hotter, more western appellations of the greater Paso Robles AVA.
This is mostly red wine country, with Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel standing out as the star performers. Other popular varieties include Merlot, Petite Sirah, Petit Verdot, Syrah, Grenache and Rhône blends, both red and white. There is a fairly uniform tendency here towards wines that are unapologetically bold and opulently fruit-driven, albeit with a surprising amount of acidity thanks to the region’s chilly nighttime temperatures.