A Tribute to Grace Grenache Santa Barbara County 2012: Delicately light cherry-red, translucent color; strawberry, earth, herbs on the delicate nose; cherry, strawberry on the palate;
clean, elegant and seamless, medium body, very fine tannin, delightfully pure expression of grenache from Santa Barabara high desert country. This is purely delicious with expressive fruit, wonderful decorum in the mouth—“graceful, elegant” are the insistent adjectives to describe this delight. Angela Osborne is the winemaker; she was born in New Zealand—American father, Kiwi mother—she fell in love with wine and winemaking, came to the United States as part of her wine education, where she then fell madly in love with grenache (a sun-loving grape that does not do well in cool New Zealand). She and husband, Jason, settled in Santa Barbara County and started their winery named after Angela’s 91-year-old maternal grandmother, Grace, thus the wine label is a tribute to grandma; how proud Grace must be. “I chose to name my label after two of my favourite things: my Grandmother Grace, and my most beloved attribute. My winemaking intention is to capture this spirit, and stay as close to nature as humanly possible,” Angela says. The wine is made pure—no manipulation, no chemicals, full use of biodynamic practices (the moon plays a big part in decisions). The result is a classic New World, pure granache that is suggestive of a fine Châteauneuf-du-Pape and signally worth you searching for and tasting. $29-35
Grace Wine Company
Second photo: Angela Osborne
