K Vintners Grenache The Boy Powerline Vineyard 2021 (750ML)

99 JS / 95 WI

#5 Wine Independent 2024 Holiday QPR Red Wine Under $50

Super smooth and mouth-filling but also lacy and filigreed, the wine combines powerful, broad and ripe strawberries, red plums and cedar on a full body blanketed in soft tannins but with fresh acidity. Aged 18 months on the lees in neutral, large-format barrels. Drink now or hold.-James Suckling

The 2021 The Boy Grenache is 100% Grenache. Pale to med garnet-purple colored, a powerful perfume erupts from the glass of red roses, kirsch, pomegranate, and black raspberries, with wafts of garrigue and dusty soil. The medium-bodied palate has a silky texture and great tension supporting the perfumed red berry flavors, finishing long and floral.

Chilly winter nights and a soft, perfumed Grenache were made for each other. Some can be big, powerful expressions, but if you’re looking for elegance, brightness, fragrance, and freshness, this is your wine. It comes from the Powerline Vineyard in Walla Walla and is made by the inimitable Charles Smith at K Vintners. Charles planted this 38-acre estate vineyard at an elevation of 1200 feet. The soils are well-drained with cobblestone river rocks and underlying layers of sand and gravel deposits, allowing the vines to develop deep roots. “K Vintners is about small lots of single-vineyard Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Grenache, Tempranillo, Sangiovese, and field blends of those grapes, all of which are hand-picked, fermented with naturally occurring yeasts, and basket pressed,” Charles told me during my recent tasting with him. This is a stunning example of what he does. - Lisa Perrotti-Brown, Wine Independent