2015 Brennecker Grenache
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Tasting notes
The 2015 Brennecker Grenache is charry and dusty, spiced and toasty. There's charred tobacco pipe, clay, brick dust and pastrami, kicked earth and pomegranate molasses. It is bloody and visceral, with sweet marrow and gravel. It's got a gorgeous core of pure fruit here that sits patiently within the wine. There's an impressive arc of evolution on show here, with plenty left in it to go. A beauty. Sealed under natural cork.
Critic scores
Average Score
Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, Wine Advocate
Julia Harding MW, jancisrobinson.com
More reviews and scores
Fermented in open concrete vats, 18 months in new Tronçais barrels. No fining or filtration. This is pretty much the same wine as Torbreck's Les Amis. Vines planted 1901. Sand and ironstone. Small berries from the vines at the top of hill. 15 hl/ha. Powell farmed this vineyard in the 1990s. 1,250 vines per ha. Dry grown. Eight barrels in this vintage but last year only four. They will be planting 20 more acres on this vineyard. One third of the current vineyard goes into this wine and the rest – lower down – goes into the Riverside. Deep cherry red. Gorgeously sweet and seductive on the nose. Silky, cool and quite light on the mid palate, very fine boned. some oak sweetness on the nose but hard to see the oak on the palate – miraculously so. Real delicacy and elegance. Smooth, gentle and refined. You could almost decribe this as pretty. Then it is really persistent. Gentle but determined. (JH)
Coming from Torbreck’s former Les Amis vineyard in Seppeltsfield (planted in 1901 and dry grown), the 2015 Brennecker Grenache sports a medium ruby-purple color and exotic spice notes over baked raspberries, cherry cordial and dried herbs with suggestions of anise, roses and tar. Full-bodied, rich and opulent in the mouth, the palate is silken-textured with seductive flavor layers and wonderful poise, finishing long and spicy. Feb 17, www.robertparker.com, Drink 2017-2035