Dining at Artisans

I wanted to dine at a nice restaurant in Paso Robles, and Artisans came up on all the review sites I looked at.

Located in downtown Paso Robles, the restaurant serves up locally grown produce and foods.

We shared a starter salad of fresh crab meat, cucumbers and avocado. It was most refreshing, given that it was blazingly hot outside. The crab was slightly chilled, but very succulent and sweet, and we washed it down with a wine flight of wines from the local vineyards. The 2009 Albarino from Silver Horse had just the right amount of lemon in the body that paired beautifully with the salad.

For our mains, we shared a generous serving of Alaskan Halibut paired with crispy potatoes, baby onions, bacon, carrots, and mushrooms. The fish was delicately cooked, and yielded easily to our eager knives. We also ordered two side dishes of jalepeno cornbread with a side dish of honey butter and a vegetable dish of cauliflower, broccoli, and spinach sauteed with dried chilli.

The jalepeno cornbread was easily the star of the evening. I’ve never had such fluffy cornbread – it looked and had the consistency of a lady finger in a tiramisu, rather than the usual dense and dry cornbread that I normally end up with.

We polished of all our food with relish, and still had enough room for dessert. We ordered a trio of creme brulee – the standard vanilla flavor, along with a chocolate malt and molasses. These were delicious as well, though to be honest, by this time I was more engaged in a conversation with our dining companions next to us (the Rasmussens), and consequently failed to pay close attention to what I was eating.

Artisans is a definite must visit in Paso Robles, and the locals definitely agree. The Rasmussens visit quite often whenever they are in the area. Although we also made reservations at Thomas Hill Organics the following evening, another highly recommended restaurant in Paso Robles, we ended up ditching it for hearty tasting hangover food – In and Out burgers. Hehe.

Albariño on a rainy Sunday afternoon

It was a lazy Sunday – I had awoken intending to go climbing as per normal, but one by one my usual group of climbing buddies pulled out. It wouldn’t have been so bad, except that my Internet refused to cooperate as well, so for a while, I moped around the house, generally feeling sorry for myself. The self-pity got tiring after a bit though, so I bunkered down under my covers and put on a movie. It had started raining then, and as if the rain sucked out all my grey mood, my general grouchiness disappeared.

So I dipped into my stash of wine, and pulled out a bottle of Pazo de Barrantes Albariño, Rias Baixas, Spain. It had a good, strong nose, of lemon-lime, a touch of honey, and minerals. The mouth feel was big too, bold and brash. I would have preferred it a little more toned down, a little less acidic, but overall, still a very drinkable wine.

Had three full glasses of it. It turned out to be a pretty relaxing Sunday too – watched two movies, and read two books.

Wine tasting in Santa Ctuz

So the WSJ apparently wrote about Vino Cruz in a February 15 article on wine stores that focus exclusively on regional wines and what a great opportunity it is for people to taste otherwise unavailable wines from tiny wineries.

I sampled five wines at the store today, and really liked two: the Pinot Noir and the Syrah.

2007 Albarino Bonny Doon – fermented in stainless steel; some heavy melon fruit in the nose. More tasty at the start, the finish just kinds of falls off.

2007 Storrs Sauvignon Blanc – French Bordeaux style with some oak aging. Doesn’t taste green and the finish is rounded and soft. I like it.

2005 Clos Tita Pinot Noir Cuvee – tiny winery with a total production if 350 cases. Hot nose, sting strawberries. Some kind of herby/minty flavors near the end. Full bodied wine, soft and rounded finish. I love the mouthfeel.

2006 Alfaro Family Merlot Billy K – only 60 cases of this wine is produced. Very light wine, especially following the Pinot Noir. The nose smelled a little of oak. Didn’t really think much of this one.

2005 Gatos Locos Syrah SCM – vibrant fruit, spicy finish with a hint of white pepper in the finish. Fun wine to drink!

WSJ on Albariño

Man, it might be hard to lay my hands on good Albariño now; the last time NYTimes wrote about wines from Rueda, Bruce couldn’t find any in the stores.

TASTINGS
By DOROTHY J. GAITER AND JOHN BRECHER

A Sunny Wine’s Rise
Spain’s Albariño Gains
Popularity While Searching
For Its Sweet Spot
March 28, 2008

The forsythia stems we harvest from our yard every January burst into yellow flowers in our house about two weeks later, bringing springtime with them regardless of the weather outside. Recently, during our first-ever broad tasting of Albariño, the special white wine from Spain, we couldn’t help but notice that the color of the wine — pale yellow, with green highlights — perfectly matched the flowering stems that soared over our heads as we sat at the dinner table. “It’s funny,” Dottie said, “because these wines do taste like spring.”

This is such a great time to be a wine drinker. Just a decade ago, you would have been hard-pressed to find an Albariño in a wine store in the U.S. While we have mentioned Albariño many times over the years, we had never conducted a broad blind tasting because there weren’t enough of them out there, and those that did make it to the States were not widely available. Over the past year or two, this has changed, and changed dramatically. Now they’re available in stores all over the country, which means you’ll be hearing a lot more about them soon.

No wonder: In the Rías Baixas zone of the Galicia region of Spain, the home of Albariño, production of the wine more than doubled between 1999 and 2006 and exports quintupled. The number of wineries in the zone has tripled since 1990. Suddenly there is a lot of Albariño out there. So our question was simple: How are the wines? We wondered if the surge has created simple, dumbed-down wines or great deals as wineries battle for market share.

We bought the wines from seven states and were amazed at how many different labels we found on the shelves. While we did not set a price limit, almost all of them cost less than $20 and about half cost less than $15. We then tasted them in blind flights over several nights.

Albariño (al-baa-ree-nyo) is a sunny wine, so very appropriate to the first weeks of spring. Generally quite dry, it tastes like fresh, ripe grapes. It has a floral nose and bright flavors of all sorts of fruits — melon, peach, mango, lime, grapefruit and others, along with good acidity that makes the wine crisp and mouth-watering. But that’s just a general overview. Our tasting showed that there is tremendous variation among them — in fact, so much difference that it’s worth some caution.

Albariño is still finding its sweet spot. Some of the wines were light and airy and simple as a fresh breeze. Like most of the wines we tasted, they had never touched oak. They were delightful and needed to be drunk this moment. They would be fine with light seafood, but also good as an aperitif. Some of our favorites, though, had more weight, more mouthfeel, more of a sense of minerals and earth. This second style is what Albariño can be at its height, combining an intensity of marvelous, rich fruit tastes with a sense of place that gives the wine grounding. It’s a fun tightrope walk that’s a delight to drink. The purity of the flavors and the acidity and minerality of these wines make them easy to pair with all sorts of food, from grilled sardines to baked ham to Wiener schnitzel, and even feta cheese-rich Greek salads.

In fact, one of the wines in our tasting rated Delicious, which is always a pleasure for a wine that costs less than $20. Our notes: “Clean, bracing and fresh. A grown-up wine. Albariño of stature, with minerals and structure. The bearing of a white Bordeaux and the purity and cleanliness of a Riesling. This is a wine for a serious dinner party.” We thought this would be awesome with paella. It turned out to be Don Olegario 2005, which cost $19.20 (we bought two bottles, one in Michigan and one in Texas). The importer, Kobrand of New York City, says it imported 3,000 cases for nationwide distribution. The wine received no oak, but remained on its lees — dead yeast cells and such — for 12 months, which added to its depth and complexity.

Here’s the problem, though: While, overall, the wines were quite enjoyable, some fell into very different, but equally unsuccessful, categories. A few were so light and acidic that they tasted like lemon water while others, at the complete opposite end of the spectrum, suffered from far too much oak, leaving them leaden and dull, like clumsy junior Chardonnays. A few, but just a few, even had a hint of sweetness that was quite off-putting. There was simply no way to know which was which before we opened them. So here is our advice: Buy a young Albariño tonight and try it with fairly light food, perhaps a pasta tossed with shrimp. If you like it, that’s great. But if you don’t, try another. There are so many available now, with more to come, and at such reasonable prices, that you really should find out what all the fuss is going to be about.

Some footnotes: Albariño is the same grape (known as Alvarinho) that makes the lovely, light, low-alcohol and inexpensive wine called Vinho Verde next-door in Portugal. As the weather turns warmer, keep Vinho Verde in mind. Also, a few U.S. wineries make a small amount of Albariño. We picked up a handful while we were tasting the Spanish versions and the best we tried, by far, was Havens 2006, which costs around $25. This is one of those off-the-beaten-path wines that vintners make because they enjoy the wine — like Melon, which we wrote about a few weeks ago — and these are worth trying when you see them.

Finally, it’s worth noting that the current profusion of Albariño in the U.S. market is part of a renaissance of Spanish winemaking that’s great for consumers. If you’re looking for something interesting for dinner, whether it’s a red, white or rosé, head to the aisle marked “Spain” and you’ll likely be fine.

St. Patty’s Day, the Wine Way

In a very miscalculated move, we didn’t buy tickets to the Metropolitan Opera’s live streaming of Britten’s Peter Grimes, mistakenly betting that the seats wouldn’t sell out. Who knew. So, after a hurried cab ride downtown later, I found myself forlornly standing outside the theatre, clutching my brown paper bag of toasted sandwiches I’d picked up for the 4 hour marathon.

Since we were downtown already anyway, we decided to go wine tasting. Just Grapes, right by my workplace, has free wine tasting from 1-4pm every Saturday, so we headed on there. In between sampling the 5 different tastings offered, we enjoyed a good chat with the store manager and the wine distributor. Ah, for a different career change. Anyway, here are my reviews of the wines:

2006 Riff, Pinot Grigio, Trentino-Alto Adige, Italy $11
The store’s tasting notes: “The vineyard sources for most of this Pinot Grigio contain a substantial amount of dolomite limestone which has an obvious impact on the wine’s character and style. It is because of the contrinbution that these fossils (limestone) make to the wine’s character that they have been chosen to be incorporated into the label design as a reminder of its geological origin. Simple, with apple, lemon and light mineral character. Light body. Delicate finish. Drink now.” While I wasn’t too impressed with the body and finish (boring, with no obvious flavors or textures), I really liked its nose. I did get the scent of apple and some lemon, and could see it as a delightful cool drink on a sweltering summer day.

2005 Franz Karl Schmitt, “Niersteiner Hipping,” Riesling Spatlesse, Rheinhessin, Germany $22
The store’s tasting notes: “The estate was founded by Jost-Schmitt in 1546, and has been in family possession since those days. Riesling is cultivated in some of the prime vineyards in Nierstein, including the classic Hipping. The grandfather of the present owner, also named Franz-Karl Schmitt, was renowned for his striving to produce great wines. He was the first to produce Trockenbeerenhauslesse in the Rheinhessen around 1900!” It’s difficult right off the first sip to pronounce that you don’t like sweet wines (which can be really tiring on the palate after a couple glasses), so it was with my experience with this. I prefered the bouquet proffered by the Pinot Grigio, but the gentle sweetness of this riesline was hard to dislike. It wasn’t cloyingly sweet, but the taste lingered pleasantly on in my mouth long seconds after the liquid had been tipped down my throat.

2006 Rex Hill, Chardonnay, Oregon $22
The store’s tastings notes: “A crisp, yet complex wine, the 2006 Rex Hill Chardonnay represents the sixth vintage of Oregon’s original ultra-premium unoaked Chardonnay. To highlight the wonderful fruit and underlying minerality in some of the Wilamette Valley’s best vineyard sites, we ferment in small stainless steel to retain the fruit’s bright transparency and then age the wines on the lees to achieve a creamy mouthfeel. Aromas of candied citrus, plums, green apple. Good richness on the attack, with broad palate-coating flavors that echo the nose. The brisk acidity adds structure and freshness, focusing the mineral notes, and lengthening flavors.” It was quite exciting to identify the candid citrus (sort of like those sugar covered jelly beans one finds during the Chinese New Year festivities) and the green apple in the nose, but I couldn’t taste the same flavors in the body. I actually found the body and finish to be quite boring, but not achingly so – within seconds, no trace of its ever being there was left. I’m still not sure whether I prefer the oaked, buttery types of Chardonnay… should do a tasting sometime to tease out my taste.

2006 Paraiso, Pinot Noir, Santa Lucia Highlands, Central Coast, California $24
The store’s tasting notes: “Paraiso’s flagship varietal. Wonderful Burgundian character: rich cherry and plum flavors with hints of spice, smoke, and toasty oak. All wrapped by structuring tannins and acidity. Amazingly food-versatile: salmon, roast chicken, beef tenderloin, you name it.” I profess to be quite partial to Pinot Noir, my interest in the grape stemming from a road trip Peirui and I made, oh, two years ago now (!!!). The nose exhibited the characteristics of the grape, but I was quite disappointed by the finish, which I found weak, almost watery. Chatting later with Janel from WineStyles, she confirmed my tasting notes, saying that the area saw too much rain in 2006. Ah.

2005 Chateau Saint Andrew Corbin, Merlot blend, St. Emilion, Bordeaux, $23
The store’s tasting notes: “Garnet with a violet rim, spicy cedar, blueberries and tobacco on the nose. Medium weight with spicy cedar, blueberries and tobacco, great structure.” If I closed my eyes and sniffed really hard, I could just pick out the scent of tobacco and cedar, but my god, the blueberries! It just jumped right out at you, unmistakeable and completely in your face. I loved the nose. But alas, the body was almost unbearably tight, the tannins completely sucking out the moisture from my lips. I suspect though, that a few years in the cellar might do wonders for this wine.

It was still early when we were done, and the revellers were still crowding the hundreds of Irish bars in the city. So we made our way over to Randolph Wine Cellars right down the street, and engaged in an entertaining tasting with another distributor.

My notes:

2006 Licia Albarino, Rias Baixas, Spain $14
Heh, this tasting was right down my alley, since we tasted both the Albarinos and plenty of Grenaches, both grapes of choice right now. I thoguht the Rias had a very light nose, such that I couldn’t quite place the smell. Or maybe sensory fatigue was setting in already. But even so, I could definitely place the lemony structure in the body and finish, almost akin to lemon juice with a kick. Would be a delicious combination with a lightly sauteed fish – mmm, need to do another canoeing trip down the Wisconsin River this spring…

2004 Atrea “The Choir,” Mendocino County $20
It’s a rhone varietal blend, with parts of viognier and roussanne. This one had quite a pungent nose of wood and earth. The heavier body would make it an unsuitable pairing with fish, but the distributor suggested heavy aged cheeses.

2005 Moulin D’Issan, Bordeaux $16
A Bordeaux Superior wine, which doesn’t fall under the 5 growth system, this wine can be found in the Margaux region. Blend of 70% cabernet sauvignon and 30% merlot. Lots of bright fruit in the nose, with a little bit of oak. I thought it tasted a little green.

2005 Domaine du Grand Tinel Chateauneuf-du-pape $30
My favorite tasting of the day, very smooth and balanced, with a hint of orange peel and black plum in the nose and body. It’s a blend of grenache, syrah, and mourvédre.

2004 Domaine Raspail-ay Gigondas, Rhone $22
Eh, to be honest, I’ve forgotten the taste of this, and didn’t take down any notes since I was busy enjoying a long conversation with the distributor about how she fell into wines and the various wine trips she’s taken in France (damn the weak USD right now). I do vaguely remember thinking that it was quite delicious though…

My palate was a little tired by this point, but the green clad revelers were still out on the streets, so we decided to continue the celebrations in our own way by making our way over to WineStyles, where Denise and Janel gave us two tastings of “green wines,” wines made the organic and environmentally friendly way. Erm, I don’t have any notes of those tastings either… but I did leave WineStyles armed with a bottle of Australian Grenahce that Janel says would go great with lambshank or spicy fish. Mmm.

We made a pit stop at Binny’s next, but boo, they didn’t have any tastings available. Disappointed but not deterred, we pressed on next to Sam’s Wine. By that time, I think the tastings were already concluded, so instead I tasted some cheeses (and picked up a slab of pate), and a pizza beer (beer brewed with pizza ingredients such as tomato, mozarella etc. very authentic!). And I also got the bottle of El Tesoro (thank you Cristalle!).

And then, I was done.

A relaxed evening in

Had a few of the usual suspects over last night for some wine and games. We started the evening off at the Indian restaurant down the street, where we stuffed our bellies with four different types of delicious Indian curry and a bottle of Spanish white grenache that Bruce got.

Over a few games of Saboteur later, where Jeff sneakily won despite Donny’s best attempts to thwart him and my bungled up attempts to thwart anybody in sight, we had a bottle of Ted the Mule 2005, a grenache syah blend that I’d picked up at WineStyles. I really do think Grenache has been slighted as a wine, passed over by the better known Cabernets, Merlots, and Pinots. This bottle proved again that it is really quite an exciting grape, and the syrah-grenache blend was quite a delicious combination. Little bit of spiciness (from the syrah I reckon), but very nicely softened and rounded off by the sweet berries. Very smooth tannins – tastes quite a bit more expensive than its $11 price tag.

This is what Wine Legacy has to say of the wine:

Ted the Mule is a play on the French expression “tête de mule” or “mule-headed” which, as you may guess, means the same as it does in English.

Ted the Mule stubbornly maintains his distinctive Gallic personality drawn from generations of experience and from roots reaching deep into the terroir of the Ventoux. Vineyards have been growing on these slopes since before the time of the Romans.

Although tractors have replaced mules in the vineyards (maybe that’s why he’s kicking?) tradition is still strong in this part of Provence.

Young and old winegrowers alike face the challenge of the global marketplace and they’re developing innovative ways to maintain their identity while crafting wines that the new wine consumer is looking for.

Provence, famous for its bright sunny climate, provides them with bountiful raw material with which to work in the form of luscious ripe grapes. Grenache is long-established grape variety that dominates the wines of the southern Rhône. Although it hasn’t yet acquired the popularity of its northern Rhône counterpart Syrah, it is what gives these wines their personality. Ted the Mule is a blend of roughly half and half. It’s vinified in a more international, fruit-forward style but it’s definitely maintained the stamp of the “Géant de Provence” Mt. Ventoux.

You can serve this wine with robust foods like mesquite grilled marinated ribeye steak with lots of black pepper rubbed into the meat or braised duck. Go ahead and try it with something a little lighter like stuffed canneloni in tomato sauce or an eggplant gratin with smoked gouda.

We cracked open a bottle of Orballo Albariño 2006 for the next game, Spy Alley (yes we went backwards, red, then white… but that’s because I forgot to pre-chill the white). I’d bought it at Sam’s a couple months ago, waiting for the right occasion to open it. I forgot the price I bought it at, but I’d picked it up in the bargains under $20 section, and a quick check online found prices anywhere from $16-$21. Beautiful wine – crisp and refreshing with lots of pineapple, citrus, lemon-lime flavors both in the nose and the mouth. I’ll buy it again in a jiffy.

All about Albariño

The Wine Lover’s Page gives a brief overview of examples of Spanish Albariño:

Albariño: When old world meets new world
© by Dennis Schaefer

Albariño may be the most exciting white wine variety you’ve barely heard of. As I noted in my last column, Albariño’s forte is that it is crisp, fresh and snappy with great acidity, which makes it great with food. Not really a stand in for Viognier or Riesling, it’s absolutely like no other wine in the world. The northwest area of Spain, the Rias Baixas, is the home of Albariño and it ripens well in the maritime climate. Part of its attraction is its salinity: you can almost taste the salty sea spray that mingles with refreshing, honeyed flavors of apple, citrus, and stone fruits.

While the wines are not necessarily simple, they are direct with great aromatics, plenty of luscious flavors and crisp finishes. Winemakers play to the strength of Albariño by emphasizing this style. It’s also fairly simple to make: temperature control the fermentation in large stainless steel tanks and bottle the wine early to retain its characteristic freshness. But many modern producers in Rias Baixas are experimenting with production techniques because they want to offer what would be perceived as a prestigious and more “serious” white wine than their regular bottling. To that end, producers are utilizing extended pre-fermentation maceration, encouraging secondary malolactic fermentation and aging in small wooden barrels.

As in any break from tradition, some wine producers are more successful than others. For example, Agro de Bazan 2005 Granbazan Amber Albariño is all free-run juice, part of which undergoes malolactic fermentation. It retains the freshness and the floral aromatics of its regular bottling; it’s more viscous in the mouth too and shows more fleshy peach, nectarine and citrus flavors as well as a good acidic grip on the finish. In contrast, 2005 Granbazan Limousin Albariño spends six months in French oak barrels; it is all butter cream, caramel and vanilla and, although some honeysuckle does shows through, a lot of the lovely, lush fruit flavors are submerged.

One of the smallest producers, Santiago Ruiz, produces an Albariño that is blended with other approved regional grapes. The 2005 Santiago Ruiz O Rosal has fragrant notes and flavors of red apple, citrus, hay with a hint of herbs and balsamic in the foreground. It’s a very distinctive wine of great intensity and persistence that really shines the spotlight on the multiple flavors involved. They experimented in 2005, barrel-fermenting some Albariño with the full malolactic and six months aging in French oak. The result is that it smells like Viognier and tastes like Chardonnay. Some producers think using these processes will make their wines more “internationally appealing” and more “modern.” But why would you want to drink an Albariño that tastes like a Chardonnay? These are the types of questions 21st century Rias Baixas producers are grappling with.

What really matters here, I think, is the prudent application of these techniques to the specific vineyards. For example, the 2005 Condes de Albarei Albariño hits all the right tangy notes with its lovely concentration and flavors of lemon-lime, honeysuckle, quince and salinity. Meanwhile their 2005 Enxebre Albariño uses grapes from their oldest vineyards, which are whole cluster macerated for two weeks to extract more backbone This is a sophisticated and elegant wine, a reserve style with so much richness and length that, while it has traditional Albariño characteristics, it transcends the boundaries of the grape. It’s not just Albariño anymore, it’s the winemaker’s idea of great white wine.

At the Fefinanes winery, their 2005 Albariño de Fefinanes is very fresh with minerals, lime zest, apple and orange blossom. They were pioneers in the region, being the very first to bottle Albariño commercially. Their knowledge has allowed them to produce an Albariño with lees contact and extended aging: the current 2003 Albariño de Fefinanes III Ano is texturally more complex, shows a deepening of all the usual Albariño flavors, but still has a freshness. The 2004 Albariño de Fefinanes 1583 has all the bells and whistles, including malolactic and barrel aging; surprisingly the creaminess of the oak supports instead of overwhelms the pretty citrus flavors.

At Martin Codax, one of the largest grower cooperative wineries, they produce a very distinct, entry level Albariño: the 2006 Martin Codax Albariño is less aromatic and less exotic than some, but still with apple, pear, melon and lemon zest at its flavor core. They have tried their hand at late harvest Albariño, which seems like a natural, but most years when the rains come in hard and heavy, there is little chance for “noble rot.” Feeling red-wine challenged in Rias Baixas, their assistant winemaker conspiratorially confides that they are experimenting with plantings of Pinot Noir! Meanwhile, they have looked to Rioja for their companion red wine, releasing a 2005 Martin Codax Rioja called Ergo.

The rebel grower in Galicia is Terras Gauda, who broke from the pack by using a European cordon trellising system rather than the traditional pergola system. They also planted an experimental vineyard of Albariño clones, trying to isolate which strains produce the best wine in their region. Their flagship wine, 2005 Terras Gauda O Rosal, is 70 percent Albariño blended with Loureiro and Caino Blanco grapes; it’s a beauty with flavors of red apple and stone fruits concentrated on the palate with a touch of spice. Here, the key to making a more interesting wine is not winemaking technique but rather vineyard management and the skillful blending of grapes.

In the New World, a number of Santa Barbara and Central Coast winemakers have visited Spain and have been intrigued by Albariño. “Albariño is like a breath of fresh air or should I say a burst of racy acidity and balance,” says Louisa Sawyer Lindquist at Verdad, a pioneer who planted her first vines in 1996 at the Ibarra-Young Vineyard in Santa Ynez Valley.

Tonight, after climbing with Chuck at VE, we met Jeff and Bruce in Chinatown for dinner. Jeff brought along a bottle of Condes de Albarei, Albariño, 2006 he had purchased at WineStyles the night before. A light straw color, the wine had a sweet nose of apricots, a little peach (I didn’t get that, but Jeff said he did), and some floral notes. That was a little surprising to me at first, because from the nose alone, I would have guessed it a Viognier, but the taste was kind of lemony-tart, quite unlike the minerality one would expect of Viogniers. Good to know from the write up above that that’s one characteristic of certain kinds of Albariño, that it can “smell like Viognier and taste like Chardonnay.” But yes, the acidity of the wine, as Bruce noted, perfectly complemented our steamed fish (ah, it’s been the longest time since I had steamed fish… and we used to have it at the dinner table every night back at home…).

Definitely another grape to start paying attention to. I think this is the second bottle of Albariño I’ve had, the first being another bottle that Jeff had brought to another restaurant we went to: a Vina Nora Albarino 2005. I have a third bottle sitting on my rack right now – along with a bottle of Grenache – which should make for fun comparisons.