I bought this off the back of a review that heaped praise on the wine and the description, more importantly, appealed. The price, for a relatively unknown wine and winery seemed about right, for what is something of a reserve wine for them. 'Reserved for, or from what', I hear you mutter. My answer is 'reserved from shits like you lot and reserved for swine like me'. The wine is under the screw cap of love. It pours dark for Grenache, which is medium dark, nice and bright but without that shiny aspect that over-clean wines sometimes seem to have. Ruby colour and it looks inviting. The wine you see also delivers in the wine you smell and taste (or is that guzzle?). Aromas of blue fruits and strawberry and very much varietal Grenache fruit but what I love is the roast meat and iron undertones. There is a slightly cedary aspect that I thought must be oak, but the winery swear they use 7-8 year old American oak barriques and don't seek to impart oak character (so, presumably no shaving and re-charring, which could allow 'old oak' to impart oak characters). There is alcohol (it is 14.5% ABV admitted) and you can question whether it is leaning into 'porty', but that isn't my take. The palate is a charm because of the texture. It is smooth, but with fine, sandy tannins to the finish. The finish is very long, indeed and the intensity can't be faulted. The texture, with that almost creamy aspect did make me wonder again about oak, but perhaps it can be achieved through other means
