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(almost all grenache from "a very specific block," according to Alban; 15.9% alcohol): Opaque ruby. A heady, exotically perfumed bouquet evokes candied red fruits, incense and candied flowers, along with a smoky mineral overtone. Juicy and precise, offering intense raspberry and bitter cherry flavors that gain sweetness and weight with air. Closes with impressive energy and cut, leaving mineral and floral notes behind. This wine was aged in French oak casks, two-thirds of them new, for 38 months.
Critic scores
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Antonio Galloni, Vinous
Jeb Dunnuck
More reviews and scores
Layers of silky, polished fruit flow across the palate in the 2008 Pandora (Grenache) As I noted last year, the 2008 is all about textural finesse and pure beauty. Hints of smoke, licorice and crushed rocks frame the long finish. This is yet another marvelous wine from Alban. Pandora is 100% Grenache from the chalky, upper hillsides of Seymour's.
Layers of silky, polished fruit flow across the palate in the 2008 Pandora (Grenache). As I noted last year, the 2008 is all about textural finesse and pure beauty. Hints of smoke, anise and crushed rocks frame the long finish. This is yet another marvelous wine from Alban. Pandora is 100% Grenache from the chalky, upper hillsides of Seymour’s. Anticipated maturity: 2013-2020. This is a fabulous set of wines from John and Lorraine Alban. Quite simply, I was blown away by what I tasted. As I noted last year, the whites are increasingly made in a more energetic style, not a bad thing as the fruit is already so expressive from the start. Over the years, a similar evolution has taken place with the reds. The inky, black color of the Syrahs is now gone. Today, Alban favors lengthy barrel aging for his top reds, a technique he compares to “braising” in cooking, which requires softer and gentler fermentations at the outset. Beginning around 2006, Alban started doing fewer pump overs and in general encourages longer, slower fermentations. The wines used to go into barrel with some sugar still left to ferment, while today they go in drier than in the past. Over the years, new oak levels have also come down. Most of the current releases are 2008s, a vintage Alban describes as characterized by a spring frost, drought and cloudy days with less heat and sunlight than is typically the case. Readers may want to check out my video interview with John Alban for more on current and upcoming vintages. Tel. (805) 546-0305; www.albanvineyards.com
Tasted out of barrel and a beautifully structured and endowed wine, the 2008 Alban Vineyards Pandora, almost 100% Grenache that spent 36 months in a combination of new and used barrels, was dense and closed at the time of this tasting, yet begrudgingly yielded ripe dark fruits, charcoal, chalk, pepper, and edgy minerality on the nose. Full bodied, yet with notable freshness and acidity, this beauty should be left alone for 2-3 years after release.