Reviews & Ratings

2004 Saxum Red Blends or Varietals "Broken Stones"

Winery: Saxum

Vintage: 2004

Wine Name/Vineyard: "Broken Stones"

Wine Category: Red Blends or Varietals

Grape blend: 75% Syrah, 22% Grenache, & 3% Mourvedre

Bottle size: 750 ml

Region: Paso Robles

State or country: CA

Price: $38

Cases produced: 600

KWG Score: 91 (based on 4 reviews)

Ken's Wine Rating: Very Good+ (93.99-90)

Review date: February 27, 2008

Wine Review: For Open That Bottle Night 2008 I chose the Saxum 2004 Broken Stones. For what normally would be a happy occasion, the evening was dampened by the mourning of the loss of my father in law. However, he would have been happy to know that everyone was having a good time with a very good drink even if he could not be there with us. Speaking of a Very Good drink, the 2004 Broken Stones fit the bill. This very dark purple wine opens with an aroma that is just heavenly. I could smell this wine for hours. It has a wonderful blackberry like bouquet with hints of menthol, pepper, vanilla, and spice. As you can tell the nose was very complex nose. On the palate, this medium bodied wine is very smooth, well balanced, and has intensely flavored and jammy sweet blackberry notes with hints of black cherry. The finish is quite dry and its tannins linger persistently for some time. This wine is a great choice to enjoy on its own. We let it breath for about an hour and it was enjoyed by several folks. If you get a chance, you should try a bottle as well. Despite the sadness of our loss, this bottle brought some smiles back to some folks and that is just the way Joe would want it. Cheers – Ken

Winemaker Notes: We are quite pleased with this one. It is rich and dense, yet has a little more elegance and lift on the palate than previous vintages, in no small part due to the great Grenache coming out of the Heart Stone Vineyard. The Syrah from the Denner Vineyard had a great peppery quality to it in 2004, and the Syrah from the James Berry Vineyard was just plain explosive. All three vineyards are planted in extremely rocky outcrops that have a very high limestone content, giving this wine a degree of nerve and minerality not often seen in California wines, yet it is unmistakably from the sunshine state.

Buy it: Use 1000 Corks to find stores that sell Saxum 2004 Broken Stones.