2023 Roar Wines, Grenache, Sierra Mar Vineyard, Santa Lucia Highlands.
I recently got a chance for a quick tasting with Nick Franscioni of Roar and catch up a bit with his family’s adventures and wines, and I finally got a chance to try their very limited 100% estate grown Sierra Mar Grenache, which was a thrill of spicy and savory elements in the glass. This dark ruby wine was born from one of the smallest blocks on the Franscioni estate, this high-elevation Grenache captures that unique spiced, savory depth of Sierra Mar’s dramatic terroir with the Santa Lucia Highlands cool Pacific breezes and decomposed granite sandy loams, all helping create a medium bodied and elegant version of this grape. The palate is peppery with a core of strawberry, wild plum, brambly raspberry and candied cherry fruits, along with hints juniper berry, cinnamon, bay leaf, anise, wilted rose petals, minty herb and sagey notes, with a touch of cedary sweet wood. The structure is refined, but a touch raw in a good way and the vintage’s acidity gives an inner brightness, making for a Grenache that excites the palate in an old world way and less overtly fruity. Nick also showed off the amazing 2023 Garys’ Pinot, which is one of the best versions of this legendary wine and a bottled aged 2018 Chardonnay, which was also a thrill and full evolved, truly excellent.
Roar’s Sierra Mar Vineyard, which Gary Franscioni planted around 2006 about a decade after his famous Garys’ and Rosella’s, rises up to nearly 1,200 feet, with, what the winery calls, island-like blocks sitting above the fog line across some of the most dramatic terrain in their estate and the Santa Lucia Highlands region of Monterey County. While the vineyard is primarily planted mainly to Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, it also includes small, carefully placed blocks of Grenache and Viognier that are made exclusively for Roar’s small mailing list, making it a priority to get your name on it, especially for the tiny lot bottlings like this three barrel release of Grenache. The vines here are all farmed with certified sustainable methods and impeccably cared for by Mark Pisoni and his team, along with the Franscioni family, probably the most respected growers in the region, who produce some of California’s most desirable grapes. Roar and winemaker Scott Shapely, again only made three barrels of the Grenache, which sees 100% de-stemmed maceration and fermentation with daily punch-downs and pump-overs in vat. After the must goes dry, the wine is pressed off the skins and goes to French oak, which I assume was two used barrels and one new, where the Grenache completed malos and matured for about 14 months. Of course you’ll not want to miss the Pinots and Chardonnays here, but this delicious Grenache (Thanks Nick) and the awesome Syrah are wines I wouldn’t miss!
($55 Est.) 93 Points, grapelive