First red we tried from Kale Anderson at his own personal winery, Kale Wines. Deep and dark ruby red. Interesting nose with notes of dark chocolate and forest floor. Definitely some savory notes too. Moderate tannins (6.5/10) and full bodied Rhone blend. Silky, smooth, thick, and creamy texture coated with dark fruits like berries and plums. Strong on the attack, seems heavily extracted. Long and lingering finish. Got a little drier on day two. So much structure and complexity going on in this wine and only for $45. Solid wine and worth checking out if you haven't.

The Home Run Cuvée hits it close to home for Kale, literally. This vineyard is located in the North Eastern part of Sonoma County about a quarter of a mile away from where he grew up and borders his little league baseball field. When he use to play there has a horse ranch located right behind the field and that is where the ball would land if you hit a homerun. The Kick Ranch Vineyard has been planted over that horse ranch, making Home Run Cuvée the perfect name for this Rhone Blend. The climate is perfect for growing Rhone varietals. Starting with the Pleasanton-Haire complex soil with fantastic drainage causing the vines to fight for their low yields, making the grapes more concentrated. Additionally, the vineyard has a straight shot of cool maritime breezes that help to cool off the vineyard from the intense afternoon sun.

This specific bottling is a blend of 68% Syrah, 30% Grenache and 2% Viognier. The Syrah and Viognier are co-fermented and gravity-fed to a stainless steel open top fermentor. The Syrah is saignéed before topping off with the Grenache which 85% were destemmed and 15% were whole clustered. Aged for 23 months in mostly neutral French oak puncheons and barrels, maximum amount of new French oak is 15%. For the Syrah, there are three different clones used. The Hermitage clone, 470 and 174 clones. The Hermitage and 470 clones add more complexity in this Rhone blend, adding in more floral notes, balanced acidity and actually has smaller berries than the 174 clone. The 174 clone adds in a fuller body and more texture. Only 306 cases produced.

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