2013 Alban Grenache Alban Estate Vineyard

Brilliant ruby. A highly perfumed bouquet of ripe red berries, candied flowers and incense carries a smoky mineral overtone. Juicy, focused and alluringly sweet, offering sappy raspberry, spicecake and floral pastille flavors that deepen and spread out steadily on the back half. The extremely long, mineral-laced finish is shaped by velvety tannins and shows outstanding clarity, spicy lift and excellent tenacity.

Incorporating 10% Syrah, the 2013 Grenache was bottled last September and there are a tiny 120 cases produced. It's another sensational wine from John that offers layers of blackcurrants, scorched earth, graphite, lavender and licorice. Full-bodied, concentrated and structured, with a stacked mid-palate, give this crazy good Grenache 2-3 years of bottle age and enjoy over the following 15-20 years. If I had to come up with a list of the greatest wine estates in the world, Alban Vineyards would certainly be in there. Readers need to understand that this estate is an anomaly, lying at the very end of the Edna Valley, and the only estate in 50+ miles making wines of this quality. Vintages here marginally track the larger Central Coast theme, yet not always. These are singular wines. John commented that he thinks 2015 is a step down over 2012, 2013 and 2014, but that it’s better than 2011. I only tasted his whites, but like everyone else in 2015, his yields were decimated, so there’s very little of these to go around. I report on the red from barrel next year. His 2014s are all terrific as well, with full-bodied, ripe, classic Alban Style. Where this estate doesn’t track with the rest of the Central Coast is with his 2013s and 2012s; in general, the 2012s are the sexier, more open-knit, and the 2013s more concentrated and structure. In John’s case, the vintages are reversed, with the 2012s showing more structure and the 2013s just packed with sweet fruit. As I’ve written in the past, for the life of me, I can’t understand why no one else in the Edna Valley tries to make wine anywhere close to this level of quality.

Saturated ruby. Intensely perfumed aromas of black raspberry and boysenberry are lifted and complicated by notes of white pepper, star anise and pungent flowers. Broad and fleshy on the palate, offering sappy red and dark fruit flavors and suggestions of licorice, floral pastilles and cola. A smoky mineral nuance adds cut and focus to the impressively long finish, which features well-integrated tannins and a repeating floral quality.