2018 Saxum James Berry Vineyard Bone Rock

Tons of ripe black fruits, licorice, graphite, and charcoal notes emerge from the 2018 Bone Rock, a blend of 63% Syrah, 16% Mataro, 12% Grenache, 7% Graciano, and a splash of Roussanne that spent 34 months in oak. Sporting an inky purple hue, it's full-bodied, brings a wealth of richness and depth, building tannins, and a monster of a finish. This powerful, meaty, impenetrable effort needs to be forgotten for 3-4 years and will keep for two decades or more. I was able to taste three vintages from Saxum, the late release 2019s from bottle, the majority of the 2020 lineup from barrel, and a handful of 2021 barrel samples. As I wrote last year, the 2019s are just brilliant, ripe, hedonistic, magical wines, and these late releases only reinforce that opinion. Looking at the 2020s, this is clearly a challenging vintage, with many wines having subtle smoky nuances and firmer yet still ripe tannins. Justin commented that the lab numbers regarding smoke taint were very low, so I think these are safe wines that will offer plenty of pleasure, although this is not a vintage to hide in the cellar. The 2021s that I was able to taste were terrific, and this will clearly be another terrific vintage here. In addition, they’ve planted a new vineyard located just four miles off the Pacific, the Cayucos Ridge Vineyard, and I expect we’ll see more releases from that site in the future.