Red

Organic

This offers much more depth than the price suggests. 60% Grenache, 20% Mourvedre, and 20% Syrah. Violets and garrigue seamlessly reveal themselves from the dark purple core of the wine. The wine is mouth-filling on the palate but soft and approachable. Plenty of structure and supple tannins that benefit from a little aeration. It is hard not to like this classic GSM from one of our favorite under-the-radar Rhone Valley wineries.

Domaine La Manarine practices organic viticulture. Work in the cellar is minimal with little intervention. Fermentations are left to start with indigenous yeasts, with no fining and only a light filtration is utilized. Considering the personal attention and great care invested in his wines, his five bottlings offer some of the best value in the Rhone Valley.

The 2021 vintage was the Third Place finisher in our 2023 Wine Of The Year blind taste off!

The 2022 is just as good if not better!
Sustainably farmed Grenache 44%, Syrah 42%, Mourvedre 14% from four vineyard sites in Los Olivos and the greater Santa Ynez Valley - Rolling Vines, Bernat, Coteaux de Clair, and TTT Roblar. The Syrah and Grenache are fermented partly with whole clusters, while the Mourvedre is 100% destemmed. Fermentation is with native yeasts in open-top oak tanks. The wine is matured for 14 months in neutral barrique and bottled without fining or filtration.

Mallea is a collaboration between viticulturist Erik Mallea (director of viticulture at Sanford & Benedict and a co-founder of Willett-Mallea Farming) and winemaker Justin Willett (of Tyler Winery and Lieu-Dit Winery). After working together in various capacities for over a decade, Erik and Justin have started this exciting new project to highlight Santa Barbara County’s potential with Rhône grape varieties. They are farming four small vineyard sites clustered around Los Olivos in the Santa Ynez Valley of Santa Barbara.

Third place was a nice surprise because it is a brand new wine on the scene, Mallea GSM Santa Barbara County. This is a traditional Rhone blend of Grenache, Syrah, and Mouvedre (GSM) but from Santa Barbara County California. The pedigree of the guys behind it is first-rate but what impressed us was the juice in the bottle! If you enjoy Cotes du Rhone or Southern French reds you are going to love Mallea. This is a wine of subtlety and not as flamboyant as our number two wine. Clearly, the wine is masterfully blended as each component adds complexity, and yet the wine is seamless on the palate. Fresh jovial fruit dances on the tongue with its lively acidity while pepper and Mediterranean spices come out in the finish. Mallea GSM provides a ton of pleasure for a very reasonable price.

The labels reference Erik Mallea’s Basque heritage, depicting 19th & 20th-century aspen tree carvings by Basque shepherds in the American West. Erik’s father, Joxe Mallea-Olaetxe, is a respected scholar of this cultural tradition.