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Uutiset
98 points Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2008 James Berry Vineyard (52% Grenache, 31% Mourvèdre, and 17% Syrah) saw some of its Grenache aged in the concrete eggs that are now catching on among some of the top producers on California’s Central Coast. With strong minerality from the limestone soil, this exuberant, fleshy, full-bodied wine is already drinking well. (I believe it was actually bottled just a day or two before my visit, which makes its performance that much more remarkable.) Dense purple, with sweet notes of barbecue smoke and meats as well as roasted herbs, extravagant black cherry, black currant, and blackberry fruit are all present in this wine, but there is plenty of underlying structure that comes from both the minerality and the Mourvedre component. Pure, full-bodied, but again, impressively elegant and nuanced, this is a tour de force and another prodigious example of this extraordinary vineyard site.
Viinin Kuvailu
The Story
The James Berry Vineyard is the Smith family’s estate vineyard. It is located 10 miles from the Pacific Ocean with an average elevation of 1200 feet. It consists of a series of slopes with shallow clay loam topsoil covering an ancient seabed, complete with fossilized shells and sharks teeth. The cuvee is a red fruit driven, Grenache based blend, with a large portion of Mataro for texture, and Syrah as spicy support. The James Berry Vineyard is aged for 18-20 months in a variety of vessels. The Grenache portion ages in concrete tank and larger puncheons, while the Mataro and Syrah ages in the smaller French barrels. A high percentage of them are new. The wine is rich and layered. Raspberries and blackberries lead the way followed by Provincial herbs and smooth dense tannins. Our wines are never racked off their lees and are bottled unfined and unfiltered.
Wine Information
Overall, 2009 was a very cool year. We had such a beautiful, dry Fall we were still able to get everything, even the very late ripening Mourvedre, fully ripe. Due to the long, cool season there is a beautiful freshness and brightness to the wines. They aren’t as dense as the previous two vintages, but they have this beautiful purity that I find enthralling. I think they will have a long bottle life, not due to heavy tannins needing time to resolve, but because they are so well balanced they will keep evolving and improving in bottle.
First of all, this latest rendition of our James Berry Vineyard has a new twist. What am I thinking, you say? Why mess with perfection? Well, I think I have improved the JBV. We aged a portion (60%) of the Grenache in a concrete tank. It kept this portion of the blend incredibly pure and focused. When the final blend came together, the wine had all the great texture and soft tannins from the oak, but the concrete added a blast of pure unadulterated Grenache fruit. I believe this wine will age incredibly gracefully, so be sure and put some away for 10-15 years, maybe more.
Vuosikerta 2009
Napa 2009 Vintage Report “We consider the vintage 2009 was the start of a three year cooling cycle (2009, 2010, 2011) that ended with the 2012 vintage. If We look at the big picture of the decade We see warming each year from 2006, 2007 and then 2008. 2009 then started a cooling cycle where the vintages were progressively cooler and wetter. Out of these vintages the 2011 was the coolest and wettest. We are pleased to see the vintage 2012 is breaking this cycle.”