A little reductive and sexy, with aromas of melon, wool, plum and flowers, it's a little fuller-bodied than the 2016 but still fresh.
It has exotic fruits and spices, and the aftertaste is long and sexy. It goes great with cool seafood and grilled fish. The vines were planted in 1944. The vineyard is located on the north side of the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas in Talmagee Village, Mendocino County, at the foot of Enlightenment Mountain. The vines are old Chenin Blanc vines that are grown organically without irrigation or chemicals on gravelly volcanic soil. It has a concentrated and dense fruit flavor. Pax is a fresh family-run winery that started in 2000. The owners, Pax and Pam Marley, each dreamed of becoming a master sommelier. They studied hard every day, met like-minded peers at a study group, and fell in love. Pax grew up in a family that had nothing to do with wine, and majored in art history at university. While working part-time at a restaurant and thinking about his future, he soon became deeply interested in the history of the drink known as "wine". When the two of them traveled to France to study wine, they were completely fascinated by the relationship between grapes, people, and the soil, and the culture of "wine" that is deeply rooted in Europe. In 1997, the two decided to move to California and make a living in the wine industry. After that, Pax was selected as a wine buyer for Dean & DeLuca, and based on his knowledge of European wine, he was inspired by another genre of drink, California wine. Among them, the most shocking for Pax was "Syrah", and he began to realize that if California's Pauillac is Oakville and Pomerol is Carneros' Merlot, there is no California Syrah that can compare to Northern Rhone. Then in 2000, he started Pax Wine Cellars with the aim of making Syrah from the vineyards that he felt had been a fateful encounter. What these vineyards have in common is that they are all grown in the cool climate of Sonoma County and Mendocino, which allows them to produce wines that are full-bodied and delicately expressive. The Pax brand, which has pursued a niche angle, gained momentum, and Pax and Pam started the Wind Gap brand in 2006 with investors. If Pax is a brand that specializes in Syrah and Rhone varieties, Wind Gap was a hip brand full of playfulness, releasing not only Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, but also unfamiliar grape varieties such as Trousseau Gris and Valdiguier. However, due to disagreements with investors, in 2018, he decided to withdraw from the Wind Gap brand and focus on his own Pax brand. Currently, Pax produces Syrah, which has a texture and freshness reminiscent of Northern Rhone, as well as rare varieties such as Trousseau Gris and Valdiguier, which he handled during his time at Wind Gap. The style is unmistakably "New California", with no pesticides or substances not found in nature being used in the fields, natural fermentation using indigenous yeasts, and minimal addition of sulfites.