The Grotto Red
Wine: The Grotto Red
Grapes: Grenache (30 percent), syrah (30 percent), cabernet sauvignon (25 percent), zinfandel (15 percent)
Region: Multiple regions in California
Vintage: 2006
Price: $15.99
In the glass: The Grotto Red is a deep blackish-red in the glass, with a dense purple core going out into a violet-red rim definition with high viscosity.
On the nose: This wine jumps out like a violent guitar riff, with a plethora of black fruit and oodles of cherry, graphite, licorice, spicy oaky notes of huckleberry sauce, phenolic characteristic reminiscent of a flight case full of sweet varnished violets and then, earthy minerals.
On the palate: The Grotto Red is full of black and red fruit sensations, with black cherries, blackberries, spice box, oak references and licorice root. The midpalate is a mind-bender with such juicy and extracted ripe black fruit it seems it won’t end. Then there’s more, and it kicks in with softer, more balanced tannins than could be imagined from the get-go, finishing supple and rounded with an edge of black currants.
Odds and ends: Appropriately named Amplified Wine is behind this monster release, but in reality it’s the Las Vegas guys and founders of Rock’n Roll Wine that are behind that company, and they have an audience waiting for a wine with these characteristics. A clever blend from some of the choicest regions in California, this is full-throttle wine made for drinking with serious meat on the menu, such as rib-eye steak. You’ll be able to enjoy this during the next three to four years.
Gil Lempert-Schwarz’s wine column appears Wednesdays. Write him at P.O. Box 50749, Henderson, NV 89016-0749, or e-mail him at gil@winevegas.com.
