Candied raspberry, fragrant peonies, sweet red cherry. Tart blueberry, delicate cinnamon, cranberry cocktail. A youthful and energetic explosion of juicy red plum, pomegranate, and strawberry gummies bursts with unabated fruity vibrancy while delightfully complicated by prickly pear, bougainvillea, and bubblegum. Notes of young rose, cherry blossom, and carnations emerge to provide a decadent floral overlay offset by undergrowth, chaparral, oolong tea leaf, and beetroot in a blast of succulent yet savory natural and stemmy tones. Delicate wafts of coriander highlight subtle yet scintillating exotic spice that collide with charming earthy impressions of sandy soil and lively saline minerality. Fragrant, animated, and outgoing on the nose while equally eccentric and crunchy on the palate; exhibiting serious yet unpretentious complexity presented in a raw, authentic, and highly drinkable presentation. Merely medium in body with surprisingly elevated tannin backed by bright acidity. This 2018 "Whole Cluster Carbonic" Estate Grenache by Folded Hills is an incredibly fun, fresh, and exciting red from Santa Barbara's Santa Ynez Valley.   

Popularized in the French region of Beaujolais yet also found all over the world, carbonic maceration is a delightfully peculiar winemaking technique where whole clusters of grapes are sealed into a stainless steel tank filled with carbon dioxide to begin fermentation without oxygen exposure. This bottling, crafted by Folded Hills using Grenache grown in their cool climate Santa Ynez Valley estate vineyard, showcases the incredible fruity and juicy deliciousness that carbonic maceration can uniquely facilitate. While packed full of wildly expressive fruit this wine is not the slightest bit weighty or extracted, rather it expresses terrific purity and ripeness while retaining incredible freshness and finesse. It also exhibits wonderful spiced and natural notes thanks to its whole cluster treatment that playfully enhance its lighthearted and youthful energy. This is an unquestionably enjoyable and delicious creation from a wonderful Santa Barbara County producer.