Acclaim for Granite Crown
Ratings
Awards
Vintage 2002:- Excellent - Fredric Koeppel - 12.03.09
What We Ate and Drank Last Night
Anyway, for wine I opened a bottle of the Renaissance Vineyard & Winery Granite Crown “Vin de Terroir” 2002, Sierra Foothills, North Yuba. Yes, 2002 is the current release of this wine, a blend of 50 percent each syrah and cabernet sauvignon. The wine ages about 27 months in neutral German oak ovals, that is, large barrels that have been used so many times that they impart structure and spice to the wine but not the woodiness or toastiness of new oak. After that process, the wine rests in bottle for three and a half years before release. The result is an absolutely lovely wine, ripe, warm and fleshy, imbued with scents and flavors of spiced, macerated and stewed red and black currants and plums. There’s an extraordinary mineral edge — no wonder the wine is called “Granite Crown” — with touches of dust, lead pencil, orange rind, leather, mulberry and dark bitter chocolate. The tannins comes up after a few minutes, lending earthiness, a note of dried porcini, and ultimate austerity. The balance is delicately strung between succulence and dryness. Drink now through 2012 or ‘14. Production was 210 cases. Excellent. About $40.
- Silver Medal - Taster's Guild International 2008
- Excellent - Frederic Koeppel - 10.10.07
"The wine offers notes of very spicy red and black cherries, black currants and plums the color is so purple that it’s almost black. It’s delicious, warm and ripe in the mouth but also formidably dry, tannic and austere, dense, dusty and chewy. After a few minutes in the glass, the wine picks up touches of coffee and bitter chocolate and macerated plums. 120 cases. Great potential from 2009 to 2015 or ‘17." Excellent
- Score around 9.5 - Vinography - Alder Yarrow - 01.05.08
"Inky purple in color this wine has a beautifully savory nose of stewed prunes, black olives, licorice, and Worcestershire sauce. In the mouth it is gorgeously silky with flavors of cassis and damp, wet earth. Dusty tannins add to the complex, resonant flavors that are somewhere between burly and delicate. Let's call it "burlesque" with a long finish that has just a hint of playful grapeyness to it at the end. Quite a unique wine that throws an enormous amount of sediment in the aging process, something which I always take to be an excellent sign. This wine is still a baby and can go another decade at least." Score around 9.5
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"The unusually accessible Renaissance 2000 Sierra Foothills North Yuba Vin de Terroir Granite Crown, a refined blend of Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot."
Sacramento Bee - Mike Dunne - 05.02.07 - Score between 9 and 9.5 - Vinography - Alder Yarrow - 01.05.08
"Dark garnet in the glass, this blend of Syrah and Cabernet has an alluring nose of smoked meat and black fruits. In the mouth it is rich and complex, through without a hint of sweetness or jammyness as it unloads flavors of cassis, chocolate, and blackberries. Velvety, dusty tannins play counterpoint to great acidity to make this an extremely satisfying wine."