2009 Red Slope Grenache
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Tasting notes
(96% grenache with 4% syrah; 15% alcohol): Bright medium red. The nose hints at bergamot, coriander and flinty metallic minerality. Juicy and gripping in the mouth, with terrific definition and lift to the flavors of red berries, spices and orange peel. Extremely bright wine with a long, rising, firmly tannic finish. Perhaps a bit youthfully tough, but this has all the components for a slow and positive evolution in bottle. Keplinger suggests waiting ten years.
Critic scores
Stephen Tanzer, Vinous
Antonio Galloni, Vinous
More reviews and scores
The 2009 Red Slope is another super intriguing wine. This Grenache-based blend emerges from the glass with expressive dark red fruit, flowers, licorice and hard candy. Layers of sweet, ripe fruit build to the perfumed finish. This is another strong effort.
The 2009 Red Slope is another super intriguing wine. This Grenache-based blend emerges from the glass with expressive dark red fruit, flowers, licorice and hard candy. Layers of sweet, ripe fruit build to the perfumed finish. This is another strong effort. Anticipated maturity: 2013-2023. Helen Keplinger is the winemaker at Bryant, where she now also makes her own wines with her husband, Douglas. Keplinger credits the years she spent working in Priorat as shaping her philosophy on wine and life. These Rhone blends are made from hillside vineyards in Amador County, El Dorado County and Knights Valley. The wines are aged in French oak, 20-65% new, depending on the wine. Racking is kept to a bare minimum and the wines are neither fined nor filtered. Readers owe it to themselves to check out these pure, handcrafted wines. Tel. (707) 252-7417