The Grenache Thread

I bought the most obscure Grenache I've ever come across a few weeks ago - called Garnacha not Guerra. I know little about it and would love a recap from anyone who does. Made in Italy (where is Galtelli, NU?), 2015, 12.9%alc (!!) and bottle 205 out of 360 made. Made by a man named O'Connell. I was strongly advised to buy this and put it away, and I was too drunk at the time either to say no, or to remember anything about it. Came from Winemakers Club (though on the label it does claim to contain sulphites).
 
David Crossley said:
I bought the most obscure Grenache I've ever come across a few weeks ago - called Garnacha not Guerra. I know little about it and would love a recap from anyone who does. Made in Italy (where is Galtelli, NU?), 2015, 12.9%alc (!!) and bottle 205 out of 360 made. Made by a man named O'Connell. I was strongly advised to buy this and put it away, and I was too drunk at the time either to say no, or to remember anything about it. Came from Winemakers Club (though on the label it does claim to contain sulphites).
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Jamie Goode wrote it up....
"This is a new wine. Naturally made Garnacha (deliberately chosen as the name to indicate a style difference, rather than the local Cannonau), just 360 bottles produced! It’s such an indulgence to write about wines like these, but this is what keeps wine interesting. It’s just great that someone cares enough about wine to make the special effort to do a project like this.

The grapes come from northern Sardinia, and Mick O’Connell, who works with Handford, and his partner, managed to blag some grapes and then pick a couple of weeks before all the locals to produce this wine (5 kg picked 29 August for pied de cuve, then 500 kg picked 31 August) which is made whole bunch (foot trodden in fibre glass tank, but one fifth done carbonic), then basket pressed into two glass demijohns. There was some temperature control: evian bottles were frozen and then suspended in the tank at the most violent part of ferment. No sulfur dioxide is added, save for a tiny bit after malolactic fermentation and a bit at bottling (free is 5 ppm and total 13, which is super-low; pH 3.57), and it weighs in at 12.9% alcohol. This is what is great about natural wine: picked early, super-smashable, but with a hint of seriousness.

Very few people will be able to get this wine, but it shows the potential of warmer regions such as Sardinia to make amazing wines, if the culture of the growers changes. Europe has astonishing terroirs that are largely currently not being used properly.

Garnacha not Guerra 2015 Sardinia, Italy
Juicy, bright, fresh and vivid with supple, sappy cherry and plum fruit. There’s a bit of grip here, but not too much, and the fruit is on the red cherry, raspberry spectrum. Finely grained structure is present but not obtrusive with nice acidity. There’s no greenness here, despite the early picking. It’s not the world’s most complex wine, but it’s thoroughly delicious, beguiling and properly smashable. 92/100 "

Sounds okay but it's the low 12.9% alcohol in Grenache that worries me!! Still available @ £22 and am interested but have yet to bite...
 
Thanks Phil, that's more info than I expected. I only bought a bottle, and in fact I'm not sure I'd have been allowed any more, but I'm glad I did. Reading Jamie's note, especially the "properly smashable" bit, I wonder whether this might be better drunk soon. 92 Points is a good score, and Jamie doesn't inflate scores in the way that some do. I know what you mean about the alc...sub-13% is pretty unusual for Grenache.

Kind of you to paste that info.
 
I've bought some 'Garnacha not Guerra' so I hope I like it. Someone asked Jamie (on his FB page when he posted his TN there) what "smashable" meant but he didn't answer. Along with the stunning 2009 Nin-Ortiz Selma de Nin (a field blend of Roussanne, Marsanne, Chenin Blanc and Xarel.lo) that's the second bottling with 30 or less cases made, the latter with only 327 bottles filled, the former with 360.
 
PhilWilkins said:
I've bought some 'Garnacha not Guerra' so I hope I like it. Someone asked Jamie (on his FB page when he posted his TN there) what "smashable" meant but he didn't answer. Along with the stunning 2009 Nin-Ortiz Selma de Nin (a field blend of Roussanne, Marsanne, Chenin Blanc and Xarel.lo) that's the second bottling with 30 or less cases made, the latter with only 327 bottles filled, the former with 360.
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Guessing there will be takers out there if you don't. Hawk it in Hackney to anyone with a thick beard. I did wonder whether the "12.9%" was because of those who never buy anything 13% and over ;).
 
PhilWilkins said:
I've bought some 'Garnacha not Guerra' so I hope I like it. Someone asked Jamie (on his FB page when he posted his TN there) what "smashable" meant but he didn't answer. Along with the stunning 2009 Nin-Ortiz Selma de Nin (a field blend of Roussanne, Marsanne, Chenin Blanc and Xarel.lo) that's the second bottling with 30 or less cases made, the latter with only 327 bottles filled, the former with 360.
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I've just bought some of the 2011 Selma, I had no idea how rare it was until I noticed I bought bottles 321, 323 and 325 of 792 bottles, production must be up on 2009! Any views on drinking window? My plan was to open one soon and make a decision but any nods in the right direction appreciated.
 
Had a very enjoyable Grenache from Migliarina yesterday. Of the pure fruit-driven style and still young, but this promises to be very drinkable indeed. About £15 and quite good value at that price. Not sure of the alcohol level. Probably higher than it seemed. Maybe Darren or Richard can tell us?
 
The Grenache I truly want to try is A Tribute to Grace, made by a New Zealander in California. Not yet managed to get a bottle, though should he be around Mr Williamson might be able to help me?
 
Currently sipping a rather lovely 2014 Côtes du Rhone from Domaine Giraud which I presume is largely Grenache. I can recall being rather sniffy about fruit forward wines when I first got seriously into wine thinking them simple and monolithic. Well this is both but in a very good way, lots of crystalline red fruit with refreshing focused acid. It's utterly undemanding, it raises no questions and provokes no thought, it's not a great wine but it's a very good drink.
 
Uillaim Tait said:
Currently sipping a rather lovely 2014 Côtes du Rhone from Domaine Giraud which I presume is largely Grenache. I can recall being rather sniffy about fruit forward wines when I first got seriously into wine thinking them simple and monolithic. Well this is both but in a very good way, lots of crystalline red fruit with refreshing focused acid. It's utterly undemanding, it raises no questions and provokes no thought, it's not a great wine but it's a very good drink.
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I think I like profound wines sometimes, like the two 1950s Vina Reals we drank on Tuesday, but also I adore just being refreshed by pure, uncomplicated fruit, like with the £10 Wagram Zweigelt I've been drinking lately.

In fact, I went through a period of thinking I was past drinking inexpensive wine, but there are some tasty bottles around and this year I think I've bought more sub-£20 stuff than for a long time, all in the cause of fruit and refreshment.
 
Garnacha Olvidada de Aragon, the big brother of Garnacha del Salvaje del Moncayo and living proof that bigger is not always better. 75 year old vines provide lots of concentration but there is an element of over ripeness that brings a prune like sweetness to the fruit. There's chocolate and toasted oak as well as a kirsch like warm finish that act as the final straw for me. I have friends who'll love this but it's an easy pass for me.
 
Primo Scuro Mesa, Cannonau Di Sardegna. Lovely pure fruit nose, freshness and a leafy spicy edge yo the cherry and raspberry notes. Juicy and moerish palate, brightness and some nice tannic grip and a peppery finish. Not quite classic Cannonau, a touch on the commercial side but very well made and a good wine.
 
Seems to me there are two important factors that contribute to the success of Grenache (and predominantly-Grenache) wines that haven't been mentioned, though as I'm new to the forum forgive me if I'm just omitting them.

One is vine material. My understanding is that high-yielding, large-clustered Grenache began to be propagated by French government nurseries in the very early twentieth century—notably sooner than happened with Pinot Noir, for example. So a lot of the so-called 'old vines' or 'hundred-year-old-vines' that one hears so much about are not actually especially good genetic material. I remember discussing this with the late Henri Bonneau, who was extremely critical of these kinds of Grenache.

The other is Grenache's strong affinity for whole-cluster fermentation. I would really struggle to think of a truly great Grenache that was made with destemmed fruit. The stems seem to be essential to aromatic complexity, longevity, and for the wine to have any sort of savoury dimension on the palate. The way recent vintages of Clos des Papes have been evolving compared to the vintages of the '70s and '80s would seem to support this contention: they began destemming in the mid-'90s, which happens to coincide with the time the Wine Spectator fell in love with the property and started dishing out high scores. The 2006 Clos des Papes is already getting pruney and evolved to my palate. Whereas whole-cluster estates like Rayas, Pégaü and Bonneau all produced '06s which are still very vibrant and youthful—and none of them are exactly early harvesters.

Just two points worth considering when thinking about Grenache.
 
David Crossley said:
The Grenache I truly want to try is A Tribute to Grace, made by a New Zealander in California. Not yet managed to get a bottle, though should he be around Mr Williamson might be able to help me?
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David,

This is a perfectly nice wine, but by the time it reaches the UK, it's just going to be a bit expensive for what it is: a simple, uncomplicated, lightly-extracted Grenache from California. In fact, to my palate it's a bit expensive for what it is in California, given that it's appreciably more expensive than things like Château des Tours' Côtes du Rhône (arguably the best Grenache QPR from France? I'm sure there are other contenders) which is a genuinely interesting, soulful wine—and not hard to find on the West Coast.

If you want to track down a really hard-to-find bottling of Grenache out of California, you might consider looking for Sandlands' old-vine Grenache. That will be difficult to get hold of, but it's an interesting wine. And the release price, at least, is refreshingly unpretentious.

All best,
William
 
William Kelley said:
David,

This is a perfectly nice wine, but by the time it reaches the UK, it's just going to be a bit expensive for what it is: a simple, uncomplicated, lightly-extracted Grenache from California. In fact, to my palate it's a bit expensive for what it is in California, given that it's appreciably more expensive than things like Château des Tours' Côtes du Rhône (arguably the best Grenache QPR from France? I'm sure there are other contenders) which is a genuinely interesting, soulful wine—and not hard to find on the West Coast.

If you want to track down a really hard-to-find bottling of Grenache out of California, you might consider looking for Sandlands' old-vine Grenache. That will be difficult to get hold of, but it's an interesting wine. And the release price, at least, is refreshingly unpretentious.

All best,
William
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Thanks William. I have actually now got in my possession a bottle of Tribute to Grace. It was Jon Bonne who excited my interest. It may well be expensive for the £30 UK retail I paid, but I look forward to trying it, having read the story, so to speak. A bit like the fizzy red "Bordeaux" we drank on Friday - good to try what is probably the region's first Petillant Naturel, I'm really pleased I did, but at £33 there's super similar stuff out there for half the price.
 
Price is always a factor. I am often struck by how expensive so many wines are in comparison to equivalent burgundies but that's probably because I know my way around there far more than in any other region(a low bar, admittedly). That fizzy bordeaux was really delicious, and I would encourage the proprietors of the first growths to consider going sparkling.
 
My problem is that, in my quest to try unusual stuff, I often end up ignoring the value for money factor. But if Dave hadn't done the same, I'd probably not have tried the fizzy red Bordeaux, which would have been my/our loss.
 
David Crossley said:
Thanks William. I have actually now got in my possession a bottle of Tribute to Grace. It was Jon Bonne who excited my interest. It may well be expensive for the £30 UK retail I paid, but I look forward to trying it, having read the story, so to speak. A bit like the fizzy red "Bordeaux" we drank on Friday - good to try what is probably the region's first Petillant Naturel, I'm really pleased I did, but at £33 there's super similar stuff out there for half the price.
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Well, that's actually less expensive than I thought it would be. Secondary market for Tribute to Grace is quite buoyant stateside, so it might actually have set you back more to buy it in San Francisco... Do report back on how it shows.
 
William Kelley said:
Well, that's actually less expensive than I thought it would be. Secondary market for Tribute to Grace is quite buoyant stateside, so it might actually have set you back more to buy it in San Francisco... Do report back on how it shows.
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Will do, William, will probably open it after holidays.

I will look for the Sandlands, but never (knowingly) seen it over in UK.
 
Thread revival as tempted by an article in TWS's Newsletter re old,high altitude garnacha in Navarra made by Domaine Lupier whom I've enjoyed wine from before. This one is a 2010 called El Terroir and you can buy one bottle at £12.95,more at £14.95 and then £16 once the Xmas list pricing comes into force so plumped for six to get free delivery and await with pleasure. Anyone have any knowledge/previous experience with this?
 
I think this has been name-checked already a few times in this thread, Jim. I'm a fan but it has quite a bit more heft than the Salvaje de Moncayo, also from TWS and also popular on here.
 
Anyone remember Penfolds Old Vines Grenache?

I think it was called that anyway! These were problably some of my first "interest" bottles I ever bought in the late 90's.
 
Great thread revival! Over here on one of the forums Grenache is the Focus of the Month. I have a few lined up already and think Tim will not be far behind!
I quite enjoyed reading through the past 6 pages here, especially the notes and thoughts on the wines from Spain. I think quite a few of the Garnacha here is more "new-world" in style?
 
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Will let you know on El Terroir when I try one Bob.
Had a delicious young Cairanne last night with the Spag Bol, L'Oratoire St Martin Réserve des Seigneurs 2012. A left over from a visit to the domaine 2 years ago to pick up house wine for a big,four family holiday in Provence.
Deep,shiny hue, very ripe( surprised me for a '12), cassis fruit,black olives and rosemary, fresh and savoury palate,plenty of life left. A 60% Grenache delight(M&S remainder).
 
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