Winemaker Notes
Blend: 54% Syrah, 21% Mourvedre, 16% Grenache, 9% Petite Sirah
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The GSM blend from the estate is the 2013 Ingenuity Proprietary Red, which in 2013 is 54% Syrah, 21% Mourvedre, 16% Grenache and the balance Petite Sirah. It saw a touch of whole clusters in the fermentation and like the other 2013s here, spent 17 months in roughly 50% new French oak. This downright sexy, full-bodied and sweetly fruited beauty offers tons of black raspberry, plums, incense and peppery aromas and flavors, gorgeous tannin quality and a long, classy finish that keeps you coming back to the glass.
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Wine Enthusiast
The winery's characteristic dense style is immediately apparent in this blend of 54% Syrah, 21% Mourvèdre, 16% Grenache and 9% Petite Sirah. It offers black licorice, smoked meat, baked black cherry and graphite aromas, needing time to breathe before unleashing black coffee, elderberry jam, asphalt and charcoal flavors through tarry tannins. Drink 2018–2028.
Cellar Selection -
Wine Spectator
Potent, structured and jammed with character, offering aromas of blackberry, dark chocolate and licorice and rich, muscular flavors of blueberry and smoky cracked pepper. Syrah, Mourvèdre, Grenache and Petite Sirah. Drink now through 2027.
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.
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.