2019-C Kinero Grenache Blanc, Paso Robles, California (750ml)
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A Monthly Wine Club Selection
This 100% Grenache Blanc exhibits wonderful freshness due to the Templeton Gap District, one of the coolest and windiest pockets of Paso Robles, which helps maintain good acidity in the fruit during the summer heat. Yount ages the wine in a concrete egg for 5 months which “preserves the purity of the fruit while turning up the volume on the varietal character.”
St. Louis native Anthony Yount was studying agricultural finance at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo when he stumbled upon some very memorable wines in the tasting room at Denner Vineyards in Paso Robles. It was his 21st birthday. Four years later, he returned to the property for an internship, and after graduating in 2007, took a job working nearby for Cris Cherry's Villa Creek winery. Although Villa Creek was all about red wine, Yount developed a curiosity about white varietals, mostly to prove to his father that he could make interesting and balanced white wines that he could enjoy. When some Grenache Blanc became available, and Cherry offered some Roussanne from the famed James Berry vineyard nearby, Yount couldn’t resist trying his hand at his own label. Thus, ‘Kinero Cellars’ was born in 2008, focusing on white Rhône varietals from prime vineyards in the foothills of Paso Robles. Yount still makes the wines for Denner Vineyards yet relishes in the creative freedom that his own label allows him. His Kinero wines benefit from early picking, the use of native yeasts and whole cluster fermentation in various vessels, including large Hungarian oak barrels and concrete eggs. While California Chardonnay, Viognier, Roussanne and Grenache Blanc can sometimes be masked with too much oak, Yount produces, vibrant and nuanced expressions of these grapes. This wine is pale straw in color and has flavors of citrus, mandarin, yellow apple and ripe stone fruit. It is bright and refreshing with subtle minerality, mouthwatering acidity, and a lingering finish. Yum!