Pssst, listen in Operative, we’re dropping this for INSIDERS only!

Last month we hit up the Hospice du Rhône festival in Paso. It was full of high-octane, teeth staining, full-throttle reds. We loved a good many - Saxum, Tooth & Nail, Ledge, and Turtle Rock come to mind.

Why do we mention that?

Because this could easily go mano-e-mano with many of our favorites (ok, maybe not the Saxums, which were God level.) We’re talking wines that range from $50-100+, sometimes much higher. This is “mega pint” worthy stuff and at 64% OFF it costs a fraction of what it should.

But what is Trial + Error??

There’s nothing out there on it. Here’s the down-low. Barbara Banke (aka Queen of the Vine, or the First Lady of Jackson Family Wines) commissioned a perfect 100-point wine from her favorite varietal. After all, her portfolio had plenty of those from Bordeaux grapes (Vérité, Lokoya, Cardinale) albeit there were no equivalent Rhône varietal counterparts at the upper echelons, and that had to change.

She recruited the talent, sourced the fruit (from a vineyard which happens to be where Sine Qua Non recently invested) and decreed “make it so.” To that end, Jonathan Nagy made it so. He’s the force behind great wines of Byron, Bien Nacido, Solomon Hills, J. Wilkes to name a few.

Just about then, the project just fell to the wayside and never went to market. That’s where we swoop in, grab it all, and serve it up for your enjoyment.

Which is good for you. Because it was once destined to be a $75, high-end, no-holds-barred Syrah. Then we got our hands on it, worked a little magic and now it costs $27. Gulp.

The label has a sort of Orin Swift-y feel to it, and the wine itself also deposits a similarly massive front loader of fruit on your palate. You need to like big, UNCTUOUS reds. And ripe blueberries. Blueberry pixie sticks perhaps? Because you get a LOT of that here. Ripe plums, wild mixed berry jam, black licorice, and a little ground pepper and spice too. It has a terrific soft mouthfeel, and great action from front to back, along with a finish that hardly ever quits. Fire up the BBQ, and marinade your favorite cuts. Those summer weekday nights just got a major upgrade coming your way.

If you enjoy those big, plush Santa Barbara reds, you need to try this. What an incredible find!