"(a blend of 46% Grenache, 30% Mourvèdre and 24% Syrah; all wild yeasts; no new oak): Bright ruby-red. Black cherry and licorice aromas are accented by black pepper, mint and herbs. Densely packed and thick but youthfully tight and juicy, with very good intensity to the blackberry liqueur and sappy red fruit flavors. The serious but suave tannins arrive late, allowing this fresh, complex wine to express itself. Very long on the aftertaste."
Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar, 91 pts
"A Rhone-style blend of 46% Grenache, 30% Mourvedre and 24% Syrah, the 2011 Justine offers up a peppery, meaty style with notions of spice, dried underbrush, beef blood and dark cherry and currant fruit. Medium-bodied, supple, pure and elegant, with integrated acidity and a focused finish, it’s a superb effort that will drink nicely for 8-10 years. - Jeb Dunnuck."
- Robert Parker's The Wine Advocate (Issue 213, June 2014), 91 pts
"The Justine, a new, southern Rhône-style red blend from Avennia, is an expressive wine, with aromas of berries, plums and cassis. There’s a whiff of smoked meat also, but the Grenache—roughly half of the blend—brings lovely fruit that trumps the rest. Delicious now, or cellar it for a few more years.- PG"
Wine Enthusiast, 92 pts
"The Rhone-inspired 2012 Justine is 49% Mourvedre, 28% Grenache and 23% Syrah that saw 15% whole cluster fermentation and no new oak. Structured, firm and muscular, it gives up plenty of peppery herbs, mineral, iron, beef blood and black cherry to go with a medium to full-bodied, savory profile on the palate. It will need a few years to chill out on release, yet have upwards of 15 years or so of total longevity."
- Robert Parker's The Wine Advocate (Issue 213, June 2014), 91-93+ pts
"A blend of 49% Mourvedre, 28% Grenache and 23% Syrah, the 2012 Justine has lots of minerality in its black fruits, smoked earth and meaty, peppery bouquet. Full-bodied, concentrated and with building tannin, this rocking GSM blend saw 15% stem inclusion, native yeast and 17 months in neutral oak before being bottled unfined and unfiltered. Drink it anytime over the coming decade. - Jeb Dunnuck"
- Robert Parker's The Wine Advocate (Issue 219, June 2015), 92 pts
"Aged in 100% neutral oak. Good dark red. Sappy, liqueur-like aromas and flavors of boysenberry and licorice. Very concentrated and fresh but distinctly dark in its fruit character and evolving slowly. This very savory wine showed notes of mocha and Provencal herbs as it opened in the glass. Nicely delineated and firmly built: this reminded me of a topflight Vacqueyras. - Stephen Tanzer"
- Vinous (November 2015), 91 pts
"This wine is a blend of Grenache (47%), Mourvèdre (38%) and Syrah. It's loaded with aromas and flavors of black raspberry, herbs, potpourri, peppery spices and kirsch. The plump red and black-fruit flavors show an exquisite balance of richness and restraint that carries through the long finish."
- Wine Enthusiast (July 2016), 91 pts
