Sean Thackrey Orion Old Vines Rossi Vineyard St. Helena 2016

Yes! The legend is here. On a personal note, this old-vine vineyard is about 4 blocks from my house in St. Helena, well-known as the coveted source of Sean Thackrey’s one-of-a-kind ORION.

The savviest of you will know that the 2015 scored 98 points. ‘16 is a better vintage, but no scores yet. That aside -- the WINE! A glorious, complex, layered, and balanced wine of power and elegance, and a must for Syrah/field blend lovers.

Sean Thackery is an art dealer turned idiosyncratic winemaker who has won critical acclaim for his unconventional red wines: Aquila, Orion and Pleiades. Drawing inspiration from his extensive collection of ancient wine texts, Thackery employs the unconventional technique of letting grapes "rest" for 24 hours in open vats under the stars. Sean is one of the most influential people in the Bay Area Food & Wine community and has been for nearly three decades. Along with luminaries like Alice Waters and Kermit Lynch, Sean Thackrey is deeply linked to the shaping of food & wine as we know it, and to this day represents many of the best and most ground-breaking practices in our industry.

We have, as noted, very little - first come, first served…! I got my 3 bottles!

PAIRING IDEAS: Sean lives in one of the coolest and most funky NorCal coastal towns - Bolinas. We suggest you park at the beach, walk into town, go to Smiley’s Bar for a margarita, then with your bottle of Orion, move across the street to the Coast Cafe for a killer burger (and/or baked oysters!). BOOM.

MUSIC SUGGESTIONS: Gotta go Grateful Dead in this town, although some Johnny Cash or Pink Floyd or Jefferson Airplane (Grace Slick lived in Bolinas for a time) would work. Enjoy!