Nose
candied, ripe red fruits along with damp earth,
bright spices and roasted meats
Palate
red fruits, licorice and dark fruit
liqueur.
Growing Conditions
2014 was the third consecutive vintage of superlative
fruit quality. The year began under the
drought conditions, but we received two very well
timed and high volume rains in February and
March that provided the vines with the hits of
water that they needed to kick start the season.
Bud-break was perhaps 10-14 days earlier than
'normal' but with a cool spring, the actual flowering
was approximately a week earlier than
'normal'. Crop load was good, like 2012 and 2013,
so fruit thinning was essential to quality. Mountain
vineyards were ok with one to two thinning
passes, where the valley floor sites normally
required two or more passes to get a more balanced
load. When all the fruit was in, we all looked back
on our third straight high quality vintage
Winemaking
The 2014 Grenache is the first release from TOR from
the Palisades Vineyard in Calistoga. Like previous
Grenache that we have made this was made from all
de-stemmed fruit so no whole cluster inclusion. Also
like previous vintages there is no new oak on this
year’s wine (we have never liked the flavor of new oak
on Grenache). Even though the winemaking was
exactly the same as previous years this is by far the
most intense and rich Grenache we have ever
released. There is an extra level of intensity and
concentration that the extremely shallow and poor
soils at the Palisades Vineyard have given the wine.
Though clearly identifiable as a Grenache from the
ruby red color, spices and earth this is the most dense
and age worthy Grenache yet released from TOR
Appearance
classic
dark ruby red.
