2016 Fess Parker The Big Easy
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Tasting notes
Fess Parker's 2016 The Big Easy is made up of 57% Syrah, 31% Petite Sirah and 12% Grenache. Opaque ruby-purple, it has a nose of fried herbs, garrigue, beef drippings, toasted coconut and an impenetrable core of dense black and blue fruit preserves. It's a full-bodied, beefy monster in the mouth, with loads of ripe fruit and spices and firm, chewy tannins, lacking just a bit in freshness.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Antonio Galloni, Vinous
More reviews and scores
The 2016 The Big Easy checks in as a blend of 57% Syrah, 31% Petite Sirah, and 12% Grenache brought up in French and American oak (61% new). It's always an uber-ripe, pleasure-bent effort and the 2016 is no exception, although it has a beautiful weightlessness and elegance about it as well. Blackcurrants, camphor, scorched earth, licorice, and spice notes all emerge from this medium to full-bodied, beautifully balanced, delicious red that packs ample fruit and texture. Don't age it, drink it.
The 2016 The Big Easy is fabulous. Rich, powerful and flamboyant to its core the Big Easy hits the palate with tremendous fruit intensity. Super-ripe red cherry, raspberry jam, white chocolate, vanillin and new American oak shape this opulent Syrah/Petite Sirah/ Grenache blend. Winemaker Blair Fox has dialed in a style that captures all the exuberance of past editions, but with more nuance than the Big Easy has ever shown. And I say that as someone who has never loved this wine. The 2016 is simply outrageously delicious.