The estate’s 2009 Cuvee Jeanne Marie is a blend of 54% Grenache, 23% Syrah and 23% Mourvedre that spent 16 months in French oak barrels ranging from 2-4 years of age. It is a deceptively medium-bodied wine laced with crushed flowers, licorice, leather, wild herbs and cherries. The Jeanne Marie is exciting, yet understated, with dazzling purity and a long, seamless finish. Anticipated maturity: 2013-2022. I was blown away by the wines I tasted from Foxen. Low yields, late harvests, fully destemmed fruit and bottling with no fining or filtration are some of the elements that define these exceptional, fine wines.Tel. (805) 937-4251. www.foxenvineyard.com

Tasted in May, this Grenache-based Rhone blend was still overwhelmingly vibrant and fresh in grapey, primary fruit raspberry, cherry and blackberry flavors. It’s appealing, but really needs some time to settle down and mellow, so the fruit and oak can mesh together. By the summer of 2009, it should be a wonderful wine, retaining its balanced lushness through at least 2012.——S.H.(12/1/2008)—— 92

The stunning, sexy 2006 Cuvee Jeanne-Marie (a blend of 60% Grenache, 25% Syrah, and 15% Mourvedre) offers up gorgeous aromas of roasted Provencal herbs, ground pepper, sweet, smoky game and meat, and copious quantities of black cherries and black currants. The expressive aromatics are followed by a pure, lush, succulent, hedonistic, medium to full-bodied red with considerable complexity, purity, and depth. Drink this beauty over the next 4-5 years.I hope readers have recognized how gorgeous the Foxen wines have been over the last five or six years. Their individuality and distinctiveness as well as high quality are evidenced in their newest releases. Kudos to Foxen for producing these four brilliant efforts!Tel. (805) 937-4251; Fax (805) 937-0415

Tasted in May, this Grenache-based Rhone blend was still overwhelmingly vibrant and fresh in grapey, primary fruit raspberry, cherry and blackberry flavors. It’s appealing, but really needs some time to settle down and mellow, so the fruit and oak can mesh together. By the summer of 2009, it should be a wonderful wine, retaining its balanced lushness through at least 2012.——S.H.(12/1/2008)—— 92

The heat during harvest was just horrible, and seems to have impacted this Grenache-Mourvedre blend. This has never been Foxen’s premier red wine anyway; the previous vintage was good, but not great. This year, there’s just too much heat. ——S.H.(12/1/2006)—— 83