2017 Pandora

The 2017 Pandora is all Grenache yet comes from more chalky, sandstone soils not from Seymour’s Vineyard, at the top of the estate. Blue fruits, candied violets, chalky minerality, and herbes de Provence notes give way to a full-bodied, multi-dimensional, just about perfect Grenache that has everything you could want from this variety. Given its balance and ripe tannins as well as its texture, it offers pleasure today yet should drink well for 15-20 years with no issues (and given that I’ve never had an Alban red that was anywhere close to being over the hill or tired, probably longer). It’s always incredibly educational tasting through recent vintages with the Alban family, as well as one of the highlights of my year. John brings an incredible amount of knowledge and experience to the table. As with Guigal in the Northern Rhône, he favors a long, four-year élevage for his wines, and it’s such a treat to look at multiple vintages at the same time. Having said that, this estate is unique in its location, and while it does seem to track the overall vintage style of the Central Coast, that’s not always the case. Looking at the wines reviewed here, the 2017s were just bottled at the time of my visit, and I was able to taste them as pre-bottling samples at the estate and then later via shipped finished bottles in Colorado. While 2017 can be a challenging vintage throughout California due to heat, this estate handled the vintage beautifully, and the wines are rich, textured, and exotic. They’re already expressive and drinking nicely yet will benefit from just 2-4 years of bottle age to integrate some structure. They’ll be long lived and have broad drink windows. The 2018s come from a drought year, and the wines are concentrated, rich, and blockbuster styled, yet there’s a cooler, pure, fresh vibe in the aromatics, and I suspect these will need slightly more time in bottle. I was only able to taste a few 2019s and 2020s, so the majority of those reviews will wait until next year. As I’ve lamented in the past, it’s always been a mystery to me why no one else in the Edna Valley comes anywhere close to the quality that is routinely achieved by Alban.