Description
Awards: Gold Medal- 2025 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competiton | 91 Pts Wine Enthusiast
Owners: Brian & Denise Farrell | Topography: Hillside | Elevation: 1200-1320ft | Soil: Linne Colado
Vineyard Notes:
The Caelesta Vineyard is a beautiful hilltop vineyard located in the eastern portion of the Templeton Gap District of Paso Robles. As a region the Templeton Gap is a benefactor of long days of summer heat that are balanced, by strong cooling late afternoon winds that enable the fruit to be chilled in the evenings, maintain longer ripening seasons and retain their natural acidity far better than others. The vineyard itself is comprised of 22 hillside blocks and each block is distinctly different and provides its own character. The 2021 vintage of our Caelesta Grenache is a near even 50:50 blend of two different blocks: block 2 and block 9. Between the two blocks I’ve found that Block 2 provides much plusher and fruit forward expressions of Grenache while Block 9 yields a much more tannic, concentrated and structured version of Grenache.
Winemaker Notes:
Before moving forward with this wine, the most important thing to note about it is the importance of family. With respect to this wine, the fruit was picked the second week of September, was delivered and transported to Healdsburg by no one other than my dad after my original line of transportation failed. If it wasn’t for him and his selflessness this wine could not have been made, and I am eternally grateful to him for that.
In the cellar, I fully de-stemmed all of the fruit and fermented Blocks 2 and 9 separately. Each block was fermented in small one-ton T-bins and on its skins for roughly three weeks prior to being pressed. I decided to blend both the free-run wine and the pressed wine from each block together because it was clear to me after tasting each lot that the blend of the two tasted far better than each of the individual components. The wine was aged in a combination of neutral barrels and new 500L puncheons for roughly 17 months until bottling. This wine was bottled unfined and unfiltered and 71 cases were produced.
Although Syrah is generally heralded as the king of the Rhone valley, the wine proves why Grenache is the queen of the region. Upon first pour, notes red of plums, baked strawberries, cardamom, cinnamon, baking spices and hints of white pepper and leather immediately jump out from the glass and begin to take grip and flirt with your senses. On the palate, the red fruits are dominant upon entry but are uplifted by notes of warm baking spices that are reminiscent of a Thanksgiving kitchen and powerful dusty tannins. The tannins are delicately balanced by a medium-bodied mouthfeel and lively acidity that provide youthful energy to a classical elegant structure. There is a long finish with notes berries and cardamom that continues to draw you into it and question whether or not one glass is enough. This wine will reward anyone who has the ability to hide some in the cellar but has a drinking window of now-2045 and can pair with anything from duck confit tacos to barbecue salmon to classical Southern California summer Tri-Tip and grilled Veggies.
