Lost Blues 2018 Good Fences

Many of you will love this wine, but not all. It's big and bold style is divisive in today's post-Parker wine world where wines of elegance and finesse get more favor and fuss. A co-fermented blend of Grenache and Syrah (the blend changes each year - in 2018 it is 69/31, respectively) with a third of the wine being fermented with the whole clusters. The wine spent 22 months in oak, of which 50% was new. The grenache brings high notes of red fruit, the syrah delivers the smoked meats and dark fruits. Drink this hedonistic wine over the next 5-7 years.

What can you say about a winery created by someone who doesn't say much, who doesn't like to draw attention to himself, but who is seriously dedicated to his craft? In this case, there's actually quite a lot to say about him, perhaps filling the void he won't say himself.

Winemaker/Owner Giovanni Grandinetti was born and raised in California's Central Coast and earned his winemaking chops as the Assistant Winemaker at Herman Story, where he still works today (after all, one can't make a living by selling just 300 cases of wine each year!).

To understand him, it might help to think of Gio as the tortoise, not the hare. Other winemakers have rocketed past him and achieved far greater fame in far less time. Gio holds to his course, working quietly and steadliy to perfect his craft. And for Gio, that is its own reward.

And once you know that, I think you'll agree the label captures Gio's personality quite well. It's crafted to look like an old block print, using a single color of ink to depict a workman toiling away at hard labor. It honors laborers and the old ways of doing things when things were slower and life seemed simpler and kinder. This is the essence of Gio, and of his Lost Blues wines.