Hello friends. In 2009, an important vineyard changed hands in the Walla Walla Valley, and we’re just now beginning to see the dividends of that sale.
LeFore Vineyard was planted in 1999 in the rocks area of the Walla Walla Valley. The first Cayuse Vineyard (Cailloux) was planted in 1997, so when LeFore went into the ground, no one had an inkling of the magic that would come from this cobblestony area of the valley.
Of course, after the success of Cayuse, a number of vineyards have been planted in the rocks, but none have LeFore’s vine age. Quietly, LeFore became an important fruit source to a number of Walla Walla winemakers. Caleb Foster used it for Buty’s Rediviva of the Stones (Cab-Syrah). Charles Smith used it for K Vintners’ Guido. And Tom Glase used it for the 2006 vintage of his Balboa Sayulita, another Cab-Syrah blend and one of my favorite wines we have ever offered through Full Pull.
You can imagine my delight, then, when I learned in 2009 that Balboa Winery had purchased LeFore Vineyard as its estate winery, and would immediately begin moving much of its production into fruit from that vineyard. I was delighted because Tom Glase had a proven track record coaxing the intoxicating funk of the rocks out of LeFore, but I was more delighted because of Balboa’s philosophy, which is to make “affordable, accessible wines,” and where that philosophy puts them in the price range spectrum.
In most cases, estate wines from the rocks cost upwards of $50, but Balboa sits stubbornly in the $20s with many of its wines, and that hasn’t changed with the incorporation of LeFore into the lineup. Certainly there are places where Balboa saves money – the barrels are all neutral and the wines are released young – but are those even negatives? For me, it only enhances our ability to really taste the fruit and earth from this special site.
I opened this bottle at 10am, and it wasn’t until about 4pm that the funk of the rocks came out to play (until that point, it was still a lovely, pure Syrah, with high-toned blue fruit and florals). But trust me: give this one a few hours open, and you will be handsomely rewarded as the savories and funkies arrive: green olive, seaweed, braised meat, iron; it’s a glorious pastiche of brackish aromas and flavors; a fine introduction to the rocks.
This wine is stunningly strong at this tariff, and it has not yet arrived in Seattle. Lucky for us, because once the word gets out that there’s Rocks Syrah in the $20s, this wine is going to fly (and there’s only 150 cases). In the meantime, I’m going to special-order this, and we have dibs before the rest of the world catches on.
First come first served up to 12 bottles, and we’ll do our best to fulfill all requests. This wine should arrive in about a week, at which point it will be available for pickup or shipping during the spring shipping window.
