{"product_id":"2023-piolet-xxxl","title":"2023 Piolet XXXL","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\" class=\"TextRun SCXO207699419 BCX0\" lang=\"EN-US\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"NormalTextRun SCXO207699419 BCX0\"\u003eExtended Barrel Aged Rhône Style Red Wine\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWinemaker Notes\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eOur impression of this wine \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cem\u003e–\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd then there's the one we couldn't let go of. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe 2023 XXXL is Grenache dominant, with Syrah lending its shoulders, and it spent thirty-six months in barrel. Three full years. Every other wine from 2023 has already left home. This one we kept back. It was resting in our cellar when the 2024 freeze hit. It sat quietly through the whole 2024 harvest and all of 2025. Was it the wine that needed more time, or was it us? Probably a little of both.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eExtra, extra, extra large. One X for every year in barrel. Yes, we know XXXL isn't a real Roman numeral. We're winemakers, not numerists.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhat came out the other side is remarkable: kirsch and dried strawberry, fig and orange peel, black tea, sandalwood, old leather, and a thread of incense. The tannins have been polished smooth by time, like old stone steps worn down by generations of footsteps. Layered, meditative, and impossibly long. It's ready now. Fully grown. Time to let it go out into the world.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNecessary Listening – \u003cb\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;\"\u003eCat Stevens – \u003cem\u003eFather and Son\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOne voice asking for patience, the other voice asking to be let go. Both of them right. That's parenthood. That's this wine.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eVintage Notes\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e2024 was a lesson in letting go, too.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn mid-January, an arctic blast dropped temperatures on some higher sites to eleven below zero. The following days, every grower and winemaker in Washington walked out with a razor blade and started slicing buds in half, looking for green. Green means life. Brown means doing math you'd rather not do.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe did everything we could. At pruning, we left way more buds than any textbook would recommend. And then there was nothing left to do but step back and trust the vines.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThey came through. They usually do. Spring came cool and careful. Budbreak trickled in from late March into April, and then the shoots took off with a vigor that surprised nearly everyone. From mid-July to mid-August, the desert remembered it was a desert. The crop came in smaller, with yields naturally lower, so every vine poured itself into fewer clusters.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHarvest started in late September and ran through October in weather that was, by every account, gorgeous. Warm afternoons, cold nights, no rain. We tasted, we waited, we tasted again, and we picked when the fruit stopped arguing with us.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eYou can taste both seasons in these wines. There's a coolness at the core, a taut line of tension we credit to that winter. And there's a generosity in the fruit that belongs entirely to summer. A hard start that became something beautiful.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat's the hope with kids, too.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Piolet Vintners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50978851127535,"sku":"23XXXL","price":75.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0664\/1375\/6655\/files\/2023-Piolet-xxxl-1000x1500.jpg?v=1791424979","url":"https:\/\/shop.pioletvintners.com\/products\/2023-piolet-xxxl","provider":"Piolet Vintners","version":"1.0","type":"link"}