100% Grenache; Hannah’s Bench estate vineyard in Lyle, Washington; planted 2003; Columbia Gorge AVA; 120 cases produced; grown in high-elevation flood deposits and basalt colluvium soils; brought up in large, veteran barrels; 14.8% ABV.
The wine is characteristically imposing. You are met with a resinous, fresh-pencil scent above the dark red fruit. Certain famous Cabernets from Napa are known for their eucalyptus presentation; Lyle shows juniper. In the mouth this is provocatively tannic— not difficult, but robust and salty. The site always ripens its crop fast, but the resultant alcohol here plays as sweetness more than heat.
In 2021 we bottled two separate Lyle vineyards, so you can test your senses and observe the differences which manifest in the bottle from differing elevation, aspect and soil, despite the proximity of the blocks to one another.
We have lost our lease on this parcel, which we planted in Lyle back in 2003, so there will not be many more bottlings from these vines.
