Winemaker Notes
Utterly mashable with a serious edge. Light red fruit with notes of whole-cluster dried herbs. It is tough not to fall in love with 2020 Combe Trousseau, fruit purity, velvety texture, and intriguing dry tactile notes.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
In the fresh red-wine game, this is a clear current leader. Almost foggy in the glass, the wine hits the nose with brisk and fresh raspberry and pomegranate aromas, as light herb and eucalyptus cut through the haze. There's an earthy, gravel-like grip to the palate, where the fresh fruit flavors are sprinkled with herbs and soil.
Indigenous to the Jura region of France, Trousseau is an intensely hued red wine grape that can make powerful wines with aging potential. Parentage analysis shows that it is related to Chenin Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc and Savagnin. Though no one is certain how or why, Trousseau made a long journey west across France and the Iberian Peninsula well over 200 years ago to take a second home under the alias, Bastardo, in Portugal. It is also permitted in the production of Port. Somm Secret—Trousseau also goes by the names, Maturana Tinta, Merenzao and Verdejo Negro.
Accounting for only ten percent of the greater Santa Ynez AVA, Ballard Canyon’s north-south orientation provides an ideal pattern of sunshine and martime fog for producing excellent Syrah. While Syrah is planted to half of the total AVA acreage, an additional third is dedicated to other Rhône varieties, red and white.