Lacules Estate — Grenache 2021

Grenache from Greece? While typical in rosé wines, it's very rare as a red wine on the Greek scene. Lacules Estate — the passion project of Austrian architect Friedrich Gruber, who acquired land near Koroni in Messinia in the mid-1990s and built a winery on the southwestern Peloponnese — had Grenache as a blending partner in their second wine for some time. For the 2021 vintage they decided to give the variety its own label, a blend of 89% Grenache with 11% Cabernet Sauvignon. A Rhône-style wine from the southern Peloponnese? We got the Château de Saint Cosme "Le Claux" 2021 for comparison — a 100% Grenache Gigondas (while the regular Saint Cosme Gigondas is a 70% Grenache blend) — and we can only recommend that tasting! Fun fact: the wine with 15.5% alcohol is not the one from the Mani peninsula. That's rare if one puts a Greek wine into the race with an international bottle. I've unfortunately lost my detailed tasting notes, but here's what I still remember vividly even after several months: these are two great wines, both at the 93-point mark. What an accomplishment for the first vintage of this wine from Lacules Estate! Beautiful nose, great texture, long aftertaste. The tannins are still quite demanding, and the wine will be even better in three to four years.