2013 Birichino Grenache Besson Vineyard Old Vines 750 ml

A 92pt Step Towards Château Rayas: 103-Year-Old Besson Vineyard

As prices for top-rated California reds continue to soar, our inboxes are increasingly flooded with requests for what’s all but impossible to find. We love hearing from each and every one of you, but truth be told, the search for extraordinary $20 American reds that have wowed the critics just as they’ve wowed WineAccess is an exercise in futility.

Except on a day like today.

In 1922, George Besson’s grandfather purchased a vineyard that had been planted 12 years earlier by a band of bootleggers. Perched high in the Santa Cruz Mountains, no consideration was given to irrigating the parcel. Instead, the Bessons were obliged to force the vines to survive on their own.

As the trunks grew thicker on each bush, the plants sprawled, leaf canopies shrouding the clusters that formed close to the trunk. The sprawl above-ground was mimicked underground, as roots burrowed deep into the mountainous substrata, quenching their thirst on water reserves and fending off hydric stress.

Yields were tiny, 2-2.5 tons per acre, but the small-berry fruit, particularly after the plants reached 75 years of age, was far more similar to what’s found at Château Rayas in Châteauneuf-du-Pape than anything on this side of the Atlantic.

Nearly 100 years after Besson Vineyard was planted, Alex Krause and John Locke, each of whom had spent years at Bonny Doon with Randall Grahm, dropped in on George Besson, Jr. They trekked the slope and listened as Besson spoke of his family’s rich grape-growing history. They plucked berries in late August and popped them in their mouths. Then they inked the contract which, in 2013, made for the highest-scoring $20 American red in ages.

How to describe this PHENOMENAL 103-year-old-vine mountain red? If you’re a Châteauneuf-du-Pape collector, you know all about both the richness and the ethereal lightness of being of the old-vine Grenache at Château Rayas. You know how Rayas, while always opulent, in great vintages leans almost towards Grand Cru Burgundy with its class, length, and persistence.

Never before have we spoken of Château Rayas when describing an American red. But today, we are.

The 2013 Birichino Grenache Besson Vineyard Old Vines is brilliant ruby to the rim. Mouthwatering aromatically, featuring spicy raspberry and cherry, wonderfully floral, sprinkled with high-toned white pepper. Pristine on the attack, rich without being overly weighty, dense without showing any sign of overripeness or prune-like notes, finishing with precise tannins and superb length. FORGET THE PRICE TAG! This is a magnificent new release from Krause and Locke.

92 points from Antonio Galloni’s Vinous. $20/bottle while they last.