Horsepower Vineyards Sur Echalas Vineyard Grenache 2019
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James Suckling
Aromas of wet stones, dried rose petals and sour cherries. Full-bodied with exhilarating acidity. Soft, fine tannins. Coffee mixes with ground spice and herbs. Complex and focused. Very well balanced and will age very nicely. From biodynamically grown grapes. Drink or hold.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Similarly hued, the translucent ruby/plum-hued 2019 Grenache Sur Echalas Vineyard ratchets up the savory, meaty dial to 11 and has lots of red and black fruits, an incredibly meaty, beef tartare-like character, medium to full-bodied richness, ultra-fine tannins, and complex notes of truffly earth, leather, dried pepper, and shitake mushrooms. Always complex, layered, and singular, the 2019 certainly doesn't disappoint.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Planted as a high-density vineyard with a three-foot by three-foot spacing, the 2019 Grenache Sur Echalas Vineyard is red-fruited, savory, dusty and floral with an expressive, bright sanguine note and showcases hints of white peppercorn and iodine on the nose. Medium to full-bodied, the palate offers flavors of dusty cherry skin with wild raspberries before notions of umami and worn leather sway with delightful hints of smoked herbs and dried earth. The impressive wine glides to a fantastically juicy and balanced finish that has me smitten and coming back for more.
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Wine Spectator
Impressive for its bold expression yet elegant complexity, this red explodes with raspberry, smoky bacon, garrigue, crushed stone and black olive flavors that soar on the rich and polished finish. Drink now
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Wine Enthusiast
Fruit for this wine was grown on stakes with the cobblestone soils plowed by horse. The aromas are gifted with notes of potpourri, raspberry, black olive, white pepper and herb. Pillowy soft red fruit follows, flavorful but reserved ramping up in intensity significantly with time open. Savory notes emerge. There's an impressive, minute-plus long finish. It's outrageously good—one of the standouts of the vintage. It only gets better the longer its open. Best after 2026.
Other Vintages
2020-
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Tradition isn’t an abstract concept to Christophe Baron, founder of both Cayuse Vineyards and Horsepower Vineyards—he was born into it. The oldest son of the centuries-old Champagne house, Baron Albert, his family has worked their land in the Marne Valley of France since 1677. As recently as 1957 horses still did all of the vineyard cultivation.
Horsepower represents a return to that time, to a simplicity of craftsmanship and purpose that has been largely lost in the modern translation. It’s a window to the Old World—right here in the new.
Grenache thrives in any warm, Mediterranean climate where ample sunlight allows its clusters to achieve full phenolic ripeness. While Grenache's birthplace is Spain (there called Garnacha), today it is more recognized as the key player in the red blends of the Southern Rhône, namely Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Côtes du Rhône and its villages. Somm Secret—The Italian island of Sardinia produces bold, rustic, single varietal Grenache (there called Cannonau). California, Washington and Australia have achieved found success with Grenache, both flying solo and in blends.
Responsible for some of Washington’s most highly acclaimed wines, the Walla Walla Valley has experienced a surge in popularity in recent years and is home to both historic wineries and younger, up-and-coming producers.
The Walla Walla Valley, a Native American name meaning “many waters,” is located in southeastern Washington; part of the appellation actually extends into Oregon. Soils here are well-drained, sandy loess over Missoula Flood deposits and fractured basalt.
It is a region perfectly suited to Rhône-inspired Syrahs, distinguished by savory notes of red berry, black olive, smoke and fresh earth. Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot create a range of styles from smooth and supple to robust and well-structured. White varieties are rare but some producers blend Sauvignon Blanc with Sémillon, resulting in a rich and round style, and plantings of Viognier, while minimal, are often quite successful.
Of note within Walla Walla, is one new and very peculiar appellation, called the Rocks District of Milton-Freewater. This is the only AVA in the U.S. whose boundaries are totally defined by the soil type. Soils here look a bit like those in the acclaimed Rhône region of Chateauneuf-du-Pape, but are large, ancient, basalt cobblestones. These stones work in the same way as they do in Chateauneuf, absorbing and then radiating the sun's heat up to enhance the ripening of grape clusters. The Rocks District is within the part of Walla Walla that spills over into Oregon and naturally excels in the production of Rhône varieties like Syrah, as well as the Bordeaux varieties.