2011 | Saxum | Broken Stones

Sexy aromas of blackberry liqueur, candied cherry, potpourri and a hint of olive tapenade. Offers sweet black and blue fruit flavors and a velvety texture, with slow-building smokiness and a touch of bitter chocolate. Fine-grained tannins add shape and grip to a long, juicy, dark fruit-dominated finish. This suave wine easily carries its 15.3% alcohol.

Reviews:

• Wine Advocate: The brilliant 2011 Syrah Broken Stones comes from a cooler block of the James Berry Vineyard and checks in as a blend of 78% Syrah, 18% Mourvedre and 4% Petit Sirah. Relatively forward (especially when compared to the locked up Bone Rock), with fabulous purity and freshness, it exudes notions of creme de cassis, blueberry, pepper, crushed flowers and sweet oak on the nose. Full-bodied, seamless and elegant, yet with building richness and rock star length, it’s an elegant version of the cuvee to drink over the coming 15 years or more. This was another great visit with Justin Smith, and he continues to tweak and experiment with varying degrees of whole cluster and concrete, puncheon and barrel aging regimes. Looking at his 2011s, I was able to taste all of these from bottles in Colorado, and they’ve closed down substantially since I reviewed them from barrel. In most cases, these took a day or more to fully unwind, and the style here is much more Rhone-like, with spice, pepper and meaty aromatics paired with focused, firm palate profiles. These are gorgeous wine that won’t start to show their full potential for another 3-4 years. The 2012s are just as good, if not better, yet are surprisingly tannic and structured. Given the up-front nature of the vintage, I was surprised by the tannin profile and more reserved style in most of the wines. Nevertheless, the concentration level here is on par with, if not slightly greater than, the 2011s, and they show the fabulous purity and focus of the vintage. Both of these vintages will need short-term cellaring. My favorite of the three vintages reviewed here, the 2013s offer thrilling density of fruit, massive concentration, and sound underlying structure that keeps the wines focused and balanced. I think short-term cellaring will be helpful here as well, but I wouldn’t be afraid to crack a bottle or two on release either. Despite these vintage differences, as I hope the reviews and scores show, these are incredible wines that make the most of this special terroir. Truthfully, there are few mailing lists out there worth being on, but without a doubt, this is one of them.

• Vinous: A dark, mysterious beauty, the 2011 Broken Stones is laced with expressive dark red and black stone fruits, iron, smoke and French oak. This is one of the more explosive wines in Saxum's range of 2011s. The Broken Stones finishes with substantial depth and power. While oak levels have come down quite a bit here in recent years, Broken Stones is one wine in this range where the oak influence is noticeable. The blend is 78% Syrah, 18% Mourvedre and 4% Petite Sirah.

Producer Information

Saxum Vineyards is a Californian wine producer in the Willow Creek District of Paso Robles. It is known for its portfolio of red blends produced from the key Rhône varieties: Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre.The estate was planted at the end of the 1980s with a majority of vines now over 40 years of age. Located a mere 10 miles (16km) from the coast, unearthed fossilized whale bones have been discovered here requiring a jack hammer to plant the vines. Planted throughout an undulating landscape the vineyards are located on slopes at an altitude of approximately 1200 feet (365 meters).Saxum's portfolio now features a collection of proprietary cuvées. The Rhône varieties reign supreme, but there are small plantings of other grapes like Zinfandel and Petite Sirah, which are used in small amounts. Strict yields inform the limited production of roughly 5500 cases annually.

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