Grenache
Those of you who have followed Alban Vineyards for a while are likely aware that whereas Viognier sparked the winery, and Syrah may very well have ‘put it on the map’, Grenache has been our unwavering obsession. It started over an argument with a dear friend from the San Joaquin Valley who is a BRILLIANT grape grower- we met in school and he now supervises the largest vineyard operation in the world. Back in the day, he told me that of all my hair brained ideas, trying to make Grenache into a fancy pants red wine was the silliest of them all. A few years later I was apprenticing with Jacques Reynaud at Ch. Rayas- which actually may have been the ‘silliest’ thing I’ve ever done (I loved every minute of it), determined to figure out how to grow and produce a California Grenache that people might just respect. Obviously a lot has changed over the ensuing 30 years and Grenache is fast becoming a Central Coast darling. For the west side of Paso Robles it has become the soul of a large portion of the area’s best wines.