Californian Soul.
2019 Halcón Mourvèdre
Normal price: $36+.
Our (best in US!) price: $34. Buy here.
Only $30 for 6! Buy here.
And only $26 for 12! Buy here!
Sometimes the pitch is simple.
1. This is easily one of the most soulful Californian red wines we've known in recent years, full stop.
2. It comes from one of the greatest slices of Cali terroir known to exist — the high-elevation, cool-climate gem of a spot that critic Jeb Dunnock proclaimed "the Côte Blonde of California."
3. It's not just us! Critics like Jeb Dunnock (above) all but slaver over the wine, like Vinous's Antonio Galloni (who gave it a 92) and John Gilman (who gave it a 93, and said it recalled "young Tempier Bandol from the vintages of the late 80's and early 90's."
4. This is the last vintage that will ever be made of this beauteous wine! Winemakers Paul and Jackie Gordon are retiring, and moving back to Europe.
5. We're offering the wine at the best price in the US on bottle #1... and quite likely the best price it's ever been offered at on the case (almost 30% off)!
(Don't want to miss out? Click above, now! Want extended vinous foreplay with your deal? Read on....)
The Halcón vineyard
We've long loved Halcón, and are proud to say we've worked with their wines for years (and well before they started showing up on Michelin-starred lists all around the Bay!). Paul and Jackie have become some of our favorite winemakers in the business, and we were crestfallen to learn they were hanging up their vinous spurs.
As a gift for our many years of support? They offered us the very last bits of one of our absolute favorite wines — the Mourvèdre they only made 90 cases of in the first place — and allowed us to offer it to you at its best price ever.
This is the Cali wine we'll take to France when we dine at the tables of the best Bandol producers. They’ll look at us with disbelief and existential despair. “Mais... ca Mourvèdre est du Californie?!?” they’ll exclaim, despondently. “And it costs quoi?!?” And we’ll have to tell them. (You don’t lie to the greatest Mourvèdre-whisperers in the world, even to avoid ripping their heart in two.)
This is an exquisite, elegant, spicy, beguiling Rhone red from one of the highest sites in CA (at 2450 feet of elevation Paul says Halcón is "the coolest-climate planting of Mourvedre in the world") made by one of the state’s unquestioned masters of Rhone grapes... and one of the greatest values in Californian wine!
Paul and Jackie
And the critics are with us! Antonio Galloni 92'ed it, and spoke of its "crushed rocks, savory herbs, mint, dried flowers"and "aromatic brilliance." John Gilman went even further, giving it a 93 and writing:
"The 2019 Mourvèdre included fifty percent whole clusters and comes in at a mere 13.7 percent octane. The wine delivers a fine nose of red currants, dark berries, garrigue, roasted game, stony soil tones, bonfire and a fine array of upper register sweet botanicals that very much recall young Tempier Bandol from the vintages of the late ‘80s and early ‘90s."
"On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and complex, with a superb core and mineral drive, ripe, firm tannins and a long, complex and gently funky finish that is the hallmark of young Mourvèdre. This is a superb wine in the making."
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Join us in celebrating the end of the Halcón era... and get some while we've got it!
2019 Halcón Mourvèdre
Normal price: $36+.
Our (best in US!) price: $34. Buy here.
Only $30 for 6! Buy here.
And only $26 for 12! Buy here!