As we consistently remind suppliers, the door is always open. Show us what you’ve got. Most of it you won’t hear about because it isn’t good enough, costs too much, or doesn’t fit in our program. The other day someone brought in a ‘moleculer wine’ that was ‘constructed’ from a base of medical grade grain alcohol. Intellectually fascinating but not our jam. Still, we taste.
A while ago someone brought us in a five-year-old Rhone white blend of Grenache Blanc, Roussanne, and Marsanne from Kunin Winery in Santa Barbara with the tongue-in-cheek title “Pape Star Blonde” , a play on white Chateauneuf. Our thoughts going in were it’s a “five year old Cali white from a winery we know but have rarely carried.” Again, that’s why you taste. This was a shocker! Still surprisingly fresh, with an enticing interplay of pear, grain, buttered apple and spice, broad palate for a white but with the required brightness to the flavors, it makes for a delightful quaff.
We pressed on to find really good notes from a couple of serious critics. Antonio Galloni of Vinous wrote, “The 2015 Pape Star Blonde is Seth Kunin’s Rhône-style blend of Grenache Blanc, Roussanne and Marsanne. Creamy, open-knit and beautifully layered in the glass, the 2015 is absolutely delicious. The Roussanne adds lovely mid-palate oiliness in this impeccably balanced white…91 points.”
Wine Advocate’s William Kelley offered, “A blend of 67% Grenache Blanc, 22% Roussanne and 11% Marsanne, the 2015 Pape Star Blonde wafts from the glass with a youthful bouquet of crisp melon, orchard fruit, citrus rind and an exotic top note of petrol. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, creamy and textural while remaining juicy and refreshing. Its purity and balance are impressive now, but I would expect this to display even more texture and complexity after a year or two in bottle…92 points.”
On top of it all, the purveyor was offering us less than half price on this delightful, roughly $28 white. We bought all of the Kunin Pape Star Blonde 2015 they had with the intent to send out an email. As it turned out, as it was waiting in the queue, a number of people picked it off and now there isn’t enough to support a full blown offer. But we still want people to see this very cool little white, especially at the $11.98 price we are selling it for.