Wine & Spirits - Fall 2018 - 23

wine that comes in around 13 percent alcohol-
unusually low for Priorat and grenache.
This wine had me thinking, where there is one,
maybe there are more. So I set out to find other grenaches that would break my bias. I found three-and
aside from Château Rayas being the inspiration for
all three, they vary greatly in terms of location, viticulture and winemaking practices.
My next "ah-ha" moment with grenache came
from Château Maris. I had fallen in love with the
Brama bottling, a rich and spicy grenache gris that
finishes with a clean note of ginger-fresh gingerroot that's still young and pink. When the La Livinière Las Combes Grenache came through the office,
I jumped at the chance to try it. Winemaker Robert
Eden explained, "We have some great old-vine grenache at Château Maris, planted as bush vines, so it
was always in my mind to make this plot into something special." His 2013 vintage is meaty with gritty
tannins, lifted by black-cherry freshness. Planted at
820 feet in elevation, the grapes are slightly protected
from northwest winds but high and close enough to
mountain ranges to take advantage of cool nights
during the ripening period.
Another came from Richard Betts and Carla
Rzeszewski, two sommeliers turned winemakers,
who saw an opportunity with grenache. "Château
Rayas exists in a tiny buttonhole of sand within Châ-

teauneuf-du-Pape," says Betts. So when they found
ancient vines growing in pure, fine beach-like sand
in Barossa's Vine Vale district, they took the plunge
and settled in Australia.
"We love sand for what it takes as much as for what
it gives," Betts told me. "Sandy soils do not give much
color to wine, which is just fine because you neither
taste nor smell color. What sandy soil does give to the
wine, however, are high-toned aromatics, the pretty
things that play in the alto and the soprano and create all of the seduction and allure. The sand comes
from the erosion of the Barossa Ranges and Eden Valley, from soils such as granite and quartzite, deposited in Vine Vale via gullies that drain out of the hills."
The gullies bring evening winds, called the Vine
Vale Nurse. "These winds create a big diurnal shift,
cooling the vineyards at night and preserving acidity and freshness. In the summer, we might reach
100 degrees (F) on a few select days, but because of
the wind you can also find yourself shivering in fiftydegree nights," says Betts.
He finds the sandy soils give a light-bodied wine
with silken textures; indeed, the 2016 Sucette is light,
frisky and refreshing, with sour cherry and crunchy
strawberry flavors.
Taras Ochota also happened upon grenache in
Australia. "I started making the Fugazi Vineyard in
2008, after driving past it for years on my way to

"What sandy soil
does give to the
wine are high-toned
aromatics, the pretty
things that play in
the alto and the
soprano and create
all of the seduction
and allure."
-Richard Betts

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