2020 Latta Wines Grenache Upland Vineyard

138 cs. made.  $52/btl.

91 pts. Vinous | 94 pts. Sean Sullivan

Our Upland Grenache is a silken mix of red fruit and wild herbs. This brilliant ruby wine opens with wild strawberry, rosemary, and cardamom accents. The expansive palate is deeply saturated with lengthy soft tannins. Long maceration with 50% stems and 50% whole berries lends wildness to those aromatics and length to the finish. This 100% Grenache is aged in neutral 500L puncheons for 22 months before bottling.

Upland Vineyard is a rolling, extremely sloped site located in the Snipes Mountain AVA. Snipes Mountain was named for Ben Snipes, an early Yakima County pioneer who built a house at the base of a mountain in the 1850s. The area was first planted in 1917 by Washington State wine trailblazer William B. Bridgman. The vineyard on Snipes Mountain was one of the first to plant Vitis vinifera in Washington. Snipes Mountain is a seven-mile-long anticline ridge created by fault activity. The "peak" is 1,290 feet high, rising from the floor of the Yakima Valley with unique, rocky soils.  Soil deposits below the area are composed of gravels and sediments left by ancient riverbeds, deposits range in size from a fist to a football. A truly unique site in Washington and a standout for Grenache.