2023 Popelouchum Estate Popelouchum Blanc [JD93]

Producer: Popelouchum Estate 
Region: San Benito County, Central Coast, California 
Blend: 60% Grenache Blanc, 49% Grenache Gris 
Year: 2023 

Jeb Dunnuck, 93 Points 

"Made in a reductive, Burgundian style by the one and only Randall Grahm, from 60% Grenache Blanc and 40% Grenache Gris, the 2023 Grenache Blanc Grenache Gris Popelouchum Vineyard Estate shows the coolness and late ripening of the vintage, with a touch of reduction that works well here. Floral, tightly textured, and tasting of salinity, pear, and apple skin, Grahm says if you like red Burgundy, this is your wine. Interesting and creamy on the palate, it was aged in relatively young barrels and integrates the wood well. Enjoyable now, this should be drink well another 5-7 years." 

Winemaker Notes: 

"We offered this bottling last spring, and it has grown leaps and bounds in complexity and depth in the intervening time. An absolutely classic Popelouchum Blanc. The varieties were pressed together and cofermented in older, neutral barrels, 100% malolactic, no addition of bentonite, and bottled without filtration. What is most noteworthy about this wine, apart from its distinctive, quasi-saline quality and persistence on the palate, is the level of natural acidity, even post-malo. (The climate of Popelouchum very closely approximates that of the Roussillon, windy and rather cool in the evening.) While eminently drinkable now, this wine will continue to evove for years to come. Approximately 300 cases were produced." 

Alcohol: 13% 

*Price and availability in store may vary. Vintage date may differ from pictured.