Stopped by A Tribute to Grace to do a tasting this weekend. Spent a good hour and a half with Angela Osborne talking about her wines, her family and wine country. She is inspiring.
One of the things we talked about is how unique her approach is to Grenache, especially in California. Many of her wines taste more like a fine Burgundy than a Rhône variety in California. These are delicate, nuanced wines. We tasted through a bunch of 2016s which she thought were showing well and she was right. The Shake Ranch is a Top 10 wine I’ve had this year with great body and length. The Morro View and the Provisor from 2016 were also very good wines. She also makes my favorite California rose with just a touch of RS, but mostly dry. Bought a magnum for Thanksgiving as it will be terrific with turkey.
I love her approach to Grenache and if you love Burgundy/Beaujolais, you will love these wines. I have no ability to judge how long these wines will age, but I can tell you that even a couple of years of age added to their complexity and enjoyability, so I am buying and holding at least a few years the single vineyard wines including the Vie Caprice, Shake Ranch and one or two others. In the meantime I’m drinking her Santa Barbara County bottling now and am loving those, especially for the sub-$30 price tag.
Great call, Tom. I’ve was excited to the see the tasting room opening, and have visited a couple of times this summer and had a very similar take to yours.
As a fellow Kiwi, I’ve bought several of her wines and garnered a lot of pleasure from them. I’ve generally drunk them on the youngish side as I’ve just not managed to hang onto any…apart from a magnum of the 2013 Santa Barbara Highlands which I broached with a group of friends a weekend ago. Their pale colour belies the depth and the '13 was very nicely evolved and drinking in a really nice place. It felt ‘ready’ to me, but certainly not in any danger of falling off its perch if you did keep it a little longer.
Thanks Tom.
I have been wanting to try this for a long time but just never stumbled across a bottle.
Will definitely visit the tasting room next we are up there, didn’t know it was in Los Alamos, love that place.
I think that Angela and a few others have done a fantastic job showing how versatile Grenache can be as a stand-alone variety. She definitely has a ‘lighter’ touch with the variety compared to many others, and the results are quite distinctive. And I just dig seeing a variety I love working with get as much attention as possible!
Cheers.
I love what Angela is doing with Grenache, probably my favorite CA Grenache producer. Her focus on Grenache is just like mine with WA Grenache.
I quietly buy up a lot of her wines and love them, the oldest ones I have had are 7 years and have plenty of life left (I think). And if you get a chance to try her Luke bottling do it! The Beason vineyard bottles great too.
After reading a wonderful article on Angela in Wine & Spirits, I called the winery and had an amazing conversation with her and ended up ordering her rose’, Grenache blanc, and 4 of her cool climate Grenaches. It is my plan this fall to have a dinner with 5 of my wine geek friends. I’m looking forward to it!
She is a fantastic person. I have a bunch of 2013s and one 2011 of hers left in my cellar, I need to check on one to see how they’re coming.
There was an extent to which the fruit seemed a little candied to me when the wines were younger, even despite the light color and all – I’m hoping that is going to come into (for me) better balance with some bottle age.