Had an xtra btl from our pallet that arrived last week so tried:
1. Jaffurs SantaBarbaraCnty Grenache (WholeCluster; 14.9%; http://www.JaffursWine.com) 2006: Very dark color; intense boysenberry/strawberry/Alpine strawberry light peppery slight toasty/oak perfumed lovely nose; soft rich/lush/ripe big fruit/strawberry/Grenache/Alpine strawberry/boysenberry light toasty/oak slight tannic flavor; very long strawberry/boysenberry/Grenache/Alpine strawberry light toasty oak slight peppery/spicy some tannic finish; needs several yrs; a beautiful huge-fruit Grenache. $38.00
_______________________
A wee BloodyPulpit:
1. I'm not much of a fan of most Grenaches, be they CdP, Spain, or Calif. The highly-rated CdP's are all very Calif in style and big $$'s. The more affordable ones are a bit too confected for me. Except for the Alban's, which I can't get anymore since I was dropped from their list, the ones I like seem few & far between.
Previous Jaffurs Grenaches have been on the hard/edgy side for me; so I had low expectations for this one. Man...was I wrong. This had huge fruit w/o seeming over-the-top and confected. It had some tannins & structure w/o that hard character. Easily the best Grenache Craig has yet made.
Tom