The Wine Advocate: 94
Another swan song in the Saxum lineup this year, the 2023 Heart Stone Vineyard features a high proportion of Graciano, leading with lifted, brambly and spice-driven accents set against a deep, black-fruited core with an undercurrent of black licorice. The palate delivers a punchy, rich profile that seamlessly transitions into an effortless, decadent and saturated finish with additional herbal and spice-driven flourishes that linger. A blend of 51% Graciano, 27% Syrah, 12% Grenache, 5% Petite Sirah and 5% Touriga Nacional, it was aged for 22 months in 68% new 300-liter barrique and a small portion of new 600-liter puncheon.
The 2023 vintage at Saxum produced a suite of wines that capture the power and intensity Justin Smith and his team consistently deliver, while adding an extra touch of elegance, effortlessness and aromatic lift. The wines result from a notably cool, extended and high-yielding growing season that avoided spring frost and late-summer heat-wave problems, leading to wines that highlight clarity and cohesion while walking the line between youthful accessibility and age-worthiness. The vintage yielded around 11,000 cases, a significant increase from the usual 8,000, filling all available tanks during harvest due to the condensed picking window. This resulted in lower percentages of whole-cluster fermentation due to limited tank space, which further emphasizes the seamless, well-integrated character of the vintage.
This harvest marks the final release of the Paderewski, HeartStone and 4Hearts bottlings as Saxum moves toward focusing solely on estate-grown fruit. A reorganization is also happening at the James Berry site, which will lead to the replacement of the Hexe bottling—historically made with purchased G2 fruit along with that of the Hexe block—with one composed solely of the original 1980s plantings at Hexe. This shift will form a trio of block-designated wines, alongside the Rocket and Bone Rock bottlings, reflecting the three hills that make up the vineyard. The vintage also sees the return of Gratius, last made in 2017, which is produced in abundant-crop years and given away to long-standing customers.
Due to the extended and staggered élevage regimes from bottling to bottling, also included here are the late-released 2022 block designates, which highlight Saxum's rare ability to produce intense, bold and high-octane wines that remain in equilibrium. The Rocket Block bottling was a standout here, clearly demonstrating the balance, complexity and energy that Grenache's co-fermentation with Mataro brings from this site. Also from 2022, and only in its second release, the Cayucos Ridge Syrah from the San Luis Obispo Coast is a fascinating outlier within the lineup, combining savory, meaty aromatics with a rich, delectable texture—a combination that is often difficult to experience in California Syrah. Lastly, the superb 2021 Somnus is nearly confounding in its melding of immense body, concentration and punch while retaining an equal measure of nuance and pedigree.
