Jeb Dunnuck’s 2018 Reviews

We are hon­ored to be able to share our wines every year with the wine crit­ic Jeb Dun­nuck. He vis­its the San­ta Bar­bara wine region every fall to taste selec­tions of new wines that were released through­out the year, includ­ing our wines in an esteemed col­lec­tion of our neigh­bor­ing winer­ies. Below are the scores and reviews of the wines we pre­sent­ed to him on Octo­ber 15, 2018.

2015 Purisima Mountain Vineyard Block Six Syrah

Rat­ing: 94+
Matu­ri­ty: 2018 – 2021
The 2015 Syrah Block Six Purisi­ma Moun­tain Vine­yard (100% Syrah) spent 20 months in 60% new French oak. Its inky pur­ple col­or is fol­lowed by a deep, pow­er­ful bou­quet of smoked black fruits, crushed rocks, graphite, and licorice. Her­mitage-like with its build­ing min­er­al­i­ty and con­cen­trat­ed, reserved feel, it has ter­rif­ic mid-palate depth as well as a big fin­ish. Give bot­tles 2 – 3 years and enjoy over the fol­low­ing 7 – 8.

2016 Purisima Mountain Vineyard Whole Cluster Grenache

Rat­ing: 94
Matu­ri­ty: 2018 – 2021
Slight­ly deep­er ruby, the 100% Grenache 2016 Grenache Whole Clus­ter Purisi­ma Moun­tain Vine­yard offers more dark fruits, spice box, pep­pery herbs, and licorice. With build­ing min­er­al­i­ty, medi­um to full-bod­ied rich­ness, and ample tan­nin, this bril­liant Grenache needs 2 – 3 years of bot­tle age and will drink beau­ti­ful­ly for a decade or more. This cuvée spent 17 months in neu­tral puncheons.

2016 Purisima Mountain Vineyard Syrah

Rat­ing: 93
Matu­ri­ty: 2018 – 2026
The 2016 Syrah Purisi­ma Moun­tain is a blend of 97% Syrah and 3% Viog­nier that was aged 16 months in 40% new French oak. Deep ruby/pur­ple-col­ored, with attrac­tive notes of black fruits, smoked herbs, bacon fat, and pep­per, it’s medi­um to full-bod­ied, ripe and pol­ished, with tons of fruit as well as under­ly­ing struc­tured and depth. It’s a smok­ing Syrah as well as a great value.

2016 Purisima Mountain Vineyard Clone #1 Syrah

Rat­ing: 93+
Matu­ri­ty: 2018 – 2021
Even deep­er col­ored, the 2016 Syrah Clone #1 Purisi­ma Moun­tain is 100% Syrah aged 16 months in 40% new French oak. It offers more smoky, meaty, bar­be­cue aro­mas and fla­vors, full body, bright acid­i­ty, and slight­ly more struc­ture and depth. It needs 2 – 3 years of bot­tle age to real­ly come togeth­er but should see its 15^th birth­day in fine form.

2016 TLB

Rat­ing: 93
Matu­ri­ty: 2018 – 2033
The 2016 TLB Red Wine checks in as a blend of 85% Caber­net Sauvi­gnon and 15% Syrah that was aged 18 months in 60% new bar­rels. This inky col­ored effort has an exot­ic bou­quet of blue­ber­ries, plums, men­thol, bay leaf, and leaf pen­cil. It’s ripe, round­ed, and sup­ple on the palate, with beau­ti­ful puri­ty and pol­ish. I like it today yet it should eas­i­ly keep for 10 – 15 years.

2016 Barrel Select Cuvee

Rat­ing: 93
Matu­ri­ty: 2018 – 2028
The 2016 Cuvée Red Bar­rel Select checks in as a mix of 50% Mourvè­dre, 29% Syrah, and 21% Grenache. Ruby/pur­ple-col­ored and offer­ing a spicy, com­plex bou­quet of red and black fruits, cured meats, and loamy soil notes, it hits the palate with medi­um to full-bod­ied rich­ness, a round­ed, expan­sive tex­ture, and a great fin­ish. Drink this incred­i­bly charm­ing, char­ac­ter-filled effort over the com­ing 8 – 10 years.

2016 Purisima Mountain Vineyard Block Eight Grenache

Rat­ing: 91+
Matu­ri­ty: 2018 – 2021
The 2016 Grenache Block Eight Purisi­ma Moun­tain Vine­yard comes from 100% Purisi­ma Moun­tain Vine­yard Grenache and was raised in neu­tral pun­cheons. Sport­ing a translu­cent ruby col­or, with love­ly notes of ripe straw­ber­ries, kirsch, under­brush, and spice, it hits the palate with medi­um to full-bod­ied rich­ness, a light, ele­gant tex­ture, and a good fin­ish. Don’t let the light col­or fool you, this has rock sol­id inten­si­ty as well as tan­nin. It will ben­e­fit from 2 – 3 years of bot­tle age and keep for a decade.

2016 Santa Ynez Valley Grenache

Rat­ing: 90
Matu­ri­ty: 2018 – 2024
Black cher­ries, roast­ed herbs, licorice, and assort­ed under­brush and earthy notes all emerge from the 2016 Grenache, which is 100% Grenache from Purisi­ma Vine­yard. It’s medi­um-bod­ied, sup­ple and pol­ished on the palate, with ter­rif­ic ele­gance and puri­ty. Drink it over the com­ing 4 – 6 years.

2016 Cuvee le Bec

Rat­ing: 90
Matu­ri­ty: 2018 – 2024
I always love this cuvée and the 2016 Cuvée le Bec doesn’t dis­ap­point. Based on Grenache, Syrah, Mourvè­dre, and Counoise, it boasts a vivid purple/​ruby col­or as well as loads of black and blue fruits, vio­lets, and pep­pery herb aro­mas and fla­vors. With good com­plex­i­ty and a charm­ing, for­ward, fruit-filled per­son­al­i­ty, drink this utter­ly deli­cious red over the com­ing 4 – 6 years as well.

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