2017 Heart Stone Vineyard

The 2017 Heart Stone Vineyard is made up of 50% Syrah, 22% Grenache, 14% Graciano, 8% Petite Sirah and 6% Touriga Nacional. Medium to deep ruby, it's scented of dried sour cherries, black cherries and currants with nuances of violet, orange peel, black tea leaves, underbrush and warm earth. Medium to full-bodied, it has a good balance of earth and fruit, with a grainy frame and long, layered finish.

There was a single foudre of the 2017 Heart Stone Vineyard, which checks in as a blend of 50% Syrah, 22% Grenache, 14% Graciano, and the rest Petite Sirah and Touriga Nacional that was mostly destemmed. Showing even better from bottle than barrel, it offers a stunning nose of ripe blueberries, black raspberries, ground pepper, and violets. Full-bodied, rounded, and seamless on the palate, it has a beautiful sense of complexity and purity paired with serious depth of fruit and opulence on the palate. Saxum’s Justin Smith has hit a home run with these recent vintages, and his 2015s, 2016s, 2017s, and 2018s all have singular styles, with the quality remaining sky-high. The 2018s show the slightly more pure, fresh, yet concentrated style of the vintage nicely. While not yet bottled, these will offer pleasure in their youth as well as benefit from short term cellaring. The 2017s are more pretty, perfumed wines that don’t quite have the density of the 2016s yet certainly don’t lack for fruit. Most are already drinking nicely today, yet as with all great wines, they’re going to evolve gracefully. Lastly, the 2016s are some of the greatest wines I’ve tasted from this estate, and they offer massive, layered, yet impeccably balanced profiles that are a joy to drink today; they’ll also be a joy to drink in 10-15 years as well. As I’ve written more than once, there are few mailing lists worth being one, but without a doubt, this is one of them.