2006 Novy Judge Family Grenache

Some of you may recall that we came out with a huge, over-the top Grenache from the Judge Family Vineyard in 2003 but that wine proved to be a bit of an anomaly and ever since that time we have been working hard to figure out exactly how to best express the Grenache grape from this very cool site. Perhaps we haven't learned an awful lot since then, but we have been fine tuning our efforts in more “typical” vintages and with the 2006
wine we may have come up with our best Grenache yet from this site.

What did we do differently with the 2006? First off, we picked at high sugar levels. Grenache seems to need to be plenty sweet to taste ripe. We then bled off the juice some to concentrate the wine (about 8%). And we ultimately added a bit of Syrah (11%) from the Judge Vineyard to give the wine some additional backbone. We also let the wine age in barrel a bit longer (17 months) and ended up being extremely selective in which barrels
made the cut for the final blend, using only 4 out of 9 barrels.

The 2006 Novy Judge Family Vineyard Grenache shows a distinct spicy character, with hints of black pepper and herbs. Wild berry flavors contrast against a slight earthiness. The finish is tannic (but not harshly so). This wine drinks very well now after being open a couple of hours so either decant it or let it rest in your cellar for a year or two.