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2007 BONE ROCK
JAMES BERRY VINEYARD
82% Syrah, 13% Mourvèdre, 5% Grenache
ALC: 15.7%
Cases 750 ml: 336
Cases 1.5 L: 56
Vineyard: Bone Rock Block of James Berry Vineyard
Released: January 2010
Release Price: $75
Drink: 2011-2023

NOTES FROM JUSTIN:
Our 2007s, are what I feel is the best vintage yet for Saxum. So yes, I think each of these wines is the best that we havedone, they are more complex, layered, and concentrated than previous years. These wines have a long life ahead of them due to their great acidity and tannin structure, yet they are enjoyable now because they are so well balanced. The 2007’s are chameleons too. When you first pour yourself a taste theyquickly start changing in the glass. Every smell and taste produces a new element, the first second there are violets and the next is roasted meats, truly fascinating. It will be a joy to watch how they develop in bottle over the next decade or more.

The Bone Rock was bottled in January of 2010, after 26 months in oak. I felt that their tannins could use a little extra time in barrel to smooth out. Please let them rest for a few months after they arrive, they are still just babies.

REVIEWS:
Robert Parker, Wine Advocate #184, Aug 2009
Rating: 98-100
Drink: 2009 - 2024
With considerable power, depth, and intensity, this is sensational stuff, as is the 2007 Bone Rock James Berry Vineyard, another candidate for perfection. A blend of 82% Syrah, 13% Mourvedre,
and 5% Grenache, it exhibits abundant aromas of blue and black fruits, acacia flowers, spice, pepper, and earth. The wine is full-bodied with a liqueur of minerals (as if wet rocks were
liquified and added to the fermenting grapes), a dense texture, and the vintage’s elegance, precision, freshness, and good acids, which provide lift and enhance its flamboyant, opulent style.

One of California’s super-star producers, Saxum owns one of the state’s most remarkable vineyard sites, the James Berry Vineyard, which has been broken into a number of different blocks, all planted on rocky limestone hillsides. This estate’s approach to winemaking is decidedly artisinal, with extraordinarily small yields as well as a minimalistic winemaking philosophy. Proprietors Justin and Heather Smith, who seem much too young to be producing such prodigious wines, fashion separate blends from the different blocks of the James Berry.