Northwest winemakers get creative with red blends

Quady North 2011 GSM, Rogue Valley, $25

Former Bonny Doon winemaker Herb Quady recently struck out on his own after planting his flag in Southern Oregon with Troon Vineyard, and this bottling from a cooler vintage denotes his first Rhone-stye blend. There’s balance from the start with the nearly equal components of Grenache (35%), Mourvèdre (34%) and Syrah, and focus is on darker red fruit of black currant and boysenberry, backed by bay oil, sage, pepper and citrus. There’s pleasing balance to its great structure, which earned it a silver medal at the 2015 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition.

Rating: Excellent

Production: cases

Alcohol: 13%

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