2016 Clos Solene Hommage A Nos Pairs Reserve

Not yet bottled, the 2016 Hommage à Nos Pairs Reserve comes all from westside Paso and is 97% Syrah, 2% Grenache, and 1% Roussanne that will spend 23 months in 70% new barrels. This full-bodied, rich, powerful Syrah gives up full-bodied aromas and flavors of cassis, blackberries, olive, black pepper, and smoked earth. With sweet tannin, a layered, finesse-driven texture, and no hard edges, it’s another sensational Syrah in the making. The big news at Guillaume Fabre’s Clos Solene is the purchase of a new estate, in the heart of the limestone hills on the west side of Paso Robles, that’s in the process of being renovated and replanted. The young vines here should go into production in the next couple of years, and now that Fabre has his own vines and estate, I expect the quality only to increase. As always, these wines are rich and concentrated, yet it’s the purity of fruit and seamless mouthfeels that set his wines apart. These don’t come cheap, but they deliver the goods.

(65% new French oak) Bright purple. A highly perfumed bouquet evokes ripe dark berries, violet oil, olive and smoky minerals, complicated by a sexy floral topnote. Alluringly sweet, deeply concentrated black and blue fruit, floral pastille and spicecake flavors become more lively as the wine opens up. Displays superb definition and powerful dark berry thrust on an impressively long, sweet finish shaped by smooth, slow-building tannins.

A blend of 97% Syrah, 2% Grenache and 1% Roussanne, the 2016 Hommage à nos Pairs Reserve wafts from the glass with notes of roasted plums, blackberry, cassis, grilled meats and subtle espresso roast. On the palate, it's full-bodied, ample and juicy, with a layered, concentrated mid-palate and lovely energy and cut, framed by fine, chalky tannins. Even though the blend is quite different, this barrel sample reminded me of Languedoc superstar Laurent Vaillé's Grange des Pères.