Vrai Amour Wines
Value Wines & Specialty/Craft Beers
Wine List
New Wines In! Miro Cuvee Sasha 2007
44% Grenache, 36% Syrah, & 20% Mourvedre that sees a total of 16 months in 25% new Eastern European and French oak barrels. The wine is seductively inviting with a nose of jammy strawberries, plums, hint of apricots, dry rose petals and exotic spices. The mouthfeel is viscous and juicy but not heavy, ?nishing long and balanced with soft tannins and low acidity.
Miro Petite Sirah 2007
100% Petite Sirah aged 18 months in French and Balkan oak barrels. The quickest way to describe this wine is “dark and delicious.” Loads of blackberry, blueberry and dark cherries are enveloped in toasty oak aromas of cocoa powder, vanilla and a touch of graphite. On the mouth the wine is big, rich and extracted but with remarkably civilized tannins for this variety.
Trentadue La Storia Meritage 2004
"Once again our 2004 Meritage is Merlot based in the tradition of the great wines of Bordeaux, specifically of Pomerol. The Merlot grapes in our Geyserville Estate Alexander Valley vineyards thrive in the gravelly/sandy, well-drained soils and, year after year, show this varietal’s ability to produce complex, layered wines destined for aging and enjoying for many years to come. The wine is dark, viscous and complex, slowly revealing its richness with aeration. The opening is intense with ripe plums, Bing cherries followed by smoky, chocolaty aromas. Further aeration reveals pronounced aromas of leather, brown sugar, molasses and slightly herbal nuances. Obviously very young at the time of these notes, the mouth feel of this wine is nevertheless rich, robust and hearty created for longevity. The body is full with well-structured tannins and balanced acidity leading to a long, firm finish. Aging potential: five to ten years."
Black Sheep Finds "Hocus Pocus" Syrah 2007
Our friends at Black Sheep Finds, Peter Hunken and Amy Christine have made their best Hocus Pocus yet. Lower in alcohol than previous vintages, the 2007 Santa Barbara County Syrah is loaded with dark blackberry fruit, hints of bacon fat, earth, and a little spice. Much of the fruit for this vintage comes from Santa Ynez Valley's Happy Canyon.
Black Sheep Finds "Holus Bolus" Syrah 2007
The 2007 Syrah exhibited a beautiful ruby/purple hue followed by sweet creme de cassis aromas interwoven with notions of ground pepper, melted licorice, forest floor, and spring flowers. With vibrant acidity, admirable purity, full-bodied power, and luscious layers of fruit, it should drink well for 7-8 years.
Black Sheep Finds "Genuine Risk" Cabernet Sauvignon 2006
Derives its name first for the road that runs alongside the eastern Santa Ynez Valley vineyard where the couple sourced the wine's fruit and second for the genuine risk many winemakers still considers the area's Cabernet to be. A wine of more elegance and subtle style than traditional California Cabs, this is a freshy-tasting Cab, with refreshing acidity and intriguing spicy notes. You will love it!
A twist on Syrah never before seen in California.
At Piedrasassi we have always considered viticulture (grape growing) and viniculture (wine-making) to be inseparable practices. There are no magic tricks to turn grapes into great wine, no secrets or silver bullets to covet in the cellar. One must farm the vines in a thoughtful and diligent manner making healthy but low-yielding vines. In the cellar you must then employ flexible and careful winemaking with the intention of creating a successful wine. At Piedrasassi we can only try to be a responsible steward of the vine and a thoughtful student of other great winemakers.
Throughout the world the best Syrah based wines are made from naturally low-yielding vines grown on marginal sites. These sorts of places produce not just simple, fruity wines but instead ones with unique character, style and a sense of place. This has led Piedrasassi to focus our efforts on cooler marine influenced sites throughout the Central Coast.
On occasion we bottle a single vineyard wine, as we did with the 2004 Harrison-Clarke and with the upcoming 2007 Rim Rock. We do this when we discover a truly unique place that transmits itself through the wine. Otherwise it is our practice to blend the wine from numerous vineyards, representing the top 30-40% of our production, into one single Piedrasassi Syrah. Blending the wine from diverse vineyard sites is akin to hearing a symphony rather than a solo performance.
In fact, one of the biggest challenges in the growth of our winery over the past 5 years has been finding vineyards that are capable of producing unique and compelling fruit. Fortunately with the help of people like Ruben Solorzano, a gifted grape grower and founding partner of Piedrasassi, we are getting closer. In 2007, 10 acres of high-density Syrah were planted just outside of the Santa Rita Hills appellation, which will eventually become a large part of the Piedrasassi program.
Piedrasassi
“The wine must be clean and pure, above all. It must be full and fleshy, fat and concentrated, but discreet, supple and soft at the same time. It must be vigorous and succulent, underpinned by the tannin and the new oak. But not dominated by either of these. And it must have definition.” - Henri Jayer, Vosne Romanee
2007 HOLUS BOLUS SYRAH 2005 PIEDRASASSI SYRAH
The 2007 wines show great purity and concentration without being cloying or over-ripe. It is rare to find such balance in new world Syrah. 2007 was a very late vintage, with no grapes being picked until October. Fortunately there was very little rain in September in October and we were able to harvest ripe grapes under clear skies. A quick word on the process of declassifying. All great wineries must engage in the difficult process of choosing which portion of their production is suitable for which bottling (i.e. Pavillon Rouge is the lesser bottling of Chateau Margaux). It is a difficult choice to declassify, but it keeps you honest and ensures that no corners are cut. In a perfect vintage one would hope that most of production can be made into Piedrasassi. In reality there are always some vineyards that perform better than others. While Holus Bolus is technically a declassification, it still represents a tremendous value to the consumer. It is a wine to drink while you wait for your Piedrasasssi to mature. 2007 Holus Bolus received a score of 91-93 points from The Wine Advocate in issue #177, August 2008 2007 Holus Bolus, 750 cases produced.
The 2005 Piedrasassi Syrah represents the continuing evolution in both our winemaking and grape growing philosophy. First, we have moved to include a broader range of vineyard sites in the wine encompassing the Santa Ynez Valley, the Westside of Paso Robles and some very cool coastal sites north of Santa Maria. This has given the wine greater depth in both the aromatics and mouthfeel. Secondly, we have extended our barrel aging to a full 30 months in 350 liter barrels. This additional 10 months in barrel has contributed greater density on the palate but also an overall refined and elegant quality.
When we receive our new barrels in September, we remove one head, turn the barrel upright like a vase, and use it as a fermenter for the grapes. The fermentation in new wood helps to stabilize color and tannins as well as integrating the wood early on. This rare and laborious practice is employed by very few wineries in the world.
2005 was a historically abundant harvest in California, but our hard work and low yields in the vineyards provided us with excellent fruit. As always we are determined to bottle only the absolute finest wine as Piedrasassi. We made a strong selection of the best lots and barrels and only bottled a mere 30% of the entire winery production under the Piedrasassi label. While the wine drinks well now it should last for more than a decade. 2005 Piedrasassi Syrah received a score of 92 points from The Wine Advocate in issue #177, August 2008 and 93 points from Stephen Tanzer 700 sixpacks produced.
The Holus Bolus Syrah tends to be a bit like the brash and daring younger brother in the family. In the cellar there are always a number of barrels that taste great while they are young. In order to capture these qualities we bottle Holus Bolus early after just 15 months in barrel. This wine sings with youthful and precocious fruit and bright aromatics. Holus Bolus is always a good glimpse into the future of Piedrasassi, as it is released to the public a full year earlier than Piedrasassi. In 2007 we continued to increase our holdings of cool coastal vineyard sites.
Wines
