Winemaker Rosemary Cakebread sources her Grenache from the certified organic Rossi Ranch, in Sonoma Valley. The fruit is fermented in open-top tanks with a modest stem inclusion. The wine spends ten months in oak puncheon and neutral barrels and is bottled unfined and unfiltered.
The result is limpid garnet and profusely floral, with a perfume of beach rose and red fruits that’s salted with herbs — basil, anise hyssop, lavender. Flavors of plum and strawberry ride waves of scintillant acidity, while silky tannins and a coffee-like finishing bite darken and lengthen the wine.
Overall this is a shimmery, multi-dimensional California Grenache that’s so complex I want to savor it with simple foods so it can shine.
2018 Gallica Grenache Sonoma Valley
14.2% abv | $50 (sample)
Ah, so that’s where some of the fruit that used to go into the Thackrey wines went.
Interesting. Might have to try again. Didn’t order the Grenache the one time I tried her wines.