Alder Springs Vineyard Grenache
⏳ Drinking Window
2005 - 2012
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
Roasted duck, grilled lamb chops, wild mushroom tart
✨ Technical Specifications
Perched on the rugged, wind-swept ridges of northern Mendocino County, the legendary Alder Springs Vineyard is one of California's most extreme viticultural frontiers. Rising up to 2,700 feet above sea level, this remote site features steep sandstone slopes and dramatic diurnal temperature shifts. Pax Mahle harnesses this unique terroir to craft a Grenache of exceptional elegance and restraint, defying the typical warm-climate California paradigm. By employing whole-cluster fermentation and aging the wine in neutral French oak, Pax coaxes out a highly aromatic, translucent red that emphasizes bright alpine red fruit, white pepper, and wild mountain herbs over heavy extraction.
🍾 About the Producer
Established in 2000 by Pax and Pam Mahle, Pax Wines emerged as an influential champion of cool-climate California viticulture, initially earning renown for single-vineyard expressions of Syrah. Operating out of an urban winery and tasting cellar in Sebastopol's Barlow district, the domaine collaborates closely with growers across coastal Sonoma County, Mendocino, and the Sierra Foothills. Viticulture centers on organically and sustainably farmed heritage plots, frequently anchored in fractured shale, marine sandstone, and decomposed granite. While early vintages leaned rich and assertive, Pax evolved toward an uncompromising low-intervention ethos characterized by whole-cluster foot stomping, spontaneous fermentations driven by ambient yeasts, neutral French oak aging, and minimal sulfur. Beyond benchmark Syrah bottlings such as Alder Springs, Griffin's Lair, and Castelli-Knight Ranch, the portfolio explores esoteric and heritage white varieties, notably old-vine Chenin Blanc, Vermentino, and Pinot Blanc, celebrated for their tensile acidity, savory transparency, and mineral cut.
🍇 Grapes
Grenache