I’m normally far more prompt than this, but at least I saved my notes from our relatively recent trip to Paso Robles so I could post notes! Had an awful end of the year, with my mom’s hospice time and passing, and Jen took the reins and planned a trip to Paso, where she has a friend with a guest room. All I had to do is arrange the wine tastings. I tried for new wineries (to me) and had to do Justin since that’s one of Jen’s all-time favorites (or was…more below)
While our first appointment was at Calcareous, we were early, so we stopped at nearby Law Estate, and snuck in, as apparently it’s only by appointment. Jen was able to convince the tasting room manager to fit us in by complimenting her eye makeup (not sure such techniques will work for me…). The facility is freakin gorgeous - right up our alley with progressive, modern architecture, clean lines, etc. Tasting fee is a bit pricey, at $25 per, but the wines were very interesting for the region. We sampled (all 2014) Cirque, Sagacious, Audacious, and Beyond Category (was hoping for a wine named ‘Bodacious’ as well, and from what I recall, there was one limited bottling of it, named by the list members during the blending party or release party - can’t recall). All were quite massively structured, and ALL of them needed age. These are heavily-built wines, and I’d love the opportunity to try one with 5 or more years of age on it. Pricey at $75 per bottle, but the list members who were there definitely were big fans, all singing the praises of the winery and their wines, so they obviously found a great niche of faithful customers. Not many specific notes on each wine, unfortunately, as what really impressed me is what I mentioned earlier - the huge presence of these wines, and how much they needed to sit and rest. The experience was one Jen prefers, where the wines are lined up on a sheet, marked, with each glass having wine in it, so you, as the taster, can sample one, go to another, go back, etc. I also love this method, but it’s tough in a traditional tasting room - it’s sit-down-only to make this work well.
Next was Calcareous - a really fun tasting, more traditional tasting room setup. John Teeling chatted with us for a while, and their staff is quite knowledgable, which is required as this rather small winery (6k cases) produces a rather large number of wines, based on what we tried, and what we didn’t but showed on the tasting menu (but nowhere NEAR the amount that Lone Madrone produces!). The owners, I believe, are from Ohio or something, and live most of the year in Ohio. Not sure why, as Paso is such a lovely place to live… Our first wine was a shocker - 2015 Estate Chardonnay. Estate Chardonnay from Paso Robles! It was shockingly good, too - I expected extracted, sweet, warm climate Chardonnay, and it was quite pleasant, fresh, and with good acidity. We sampled the '14 Pinot Noir from York Mountain (and were given a most interesting story about that site for grape growing), '15 ZSM, '14 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, '15 Grenache, and were poured two other cabs - '14 Carver Vineyard York Mountain and '13 Signature D Cabernet - both of these two were our favorites (other than the Chardonnay which I couldn’t stop talking about, shocked by how it turned out). The mountain fruit (as some of you know, based on my recent ramblings on about mountain fruit in Napa/Sonoma) Cab was noticeably favored, with the freshness and pop of the blue fruits, and added structure of the mountain growth. Signature D should be renamed Structure D as it was crazy big in the mouth - massive tannic structure, a real departure from the other wines offered. Overall these wines seem to be a good bargain, and Jason Joyce does a great job as winemaker.
Lunch was at Daou, on their patio, with a cheese and charcuterie plate. I’ll start with the latter, as the plate we enjoyed was absolutely first class - the combinations they provided, and the quality and variety of the meats and cheeses make the visit worthwhile…until you get to the wines…unfortunately for us, the only wine that we even enjoyed a small amount is the '15 Estate Sauvignon Blanc. We tried the '14 Estate Cab, the '14 Soul of a Lion (probably the best of the reds, but still stylistically not our choice, as it was quite hot-climate in character), '16 Reserve Chardonnay, '13 Reserve Zinfandel, , '15 Eye of the Falcon, and '15 Seventeen Forty - nothing of note. Just not our style, which is odd, as I’ve long been anti-hot climate wines, but normally Jen is a bit of a fan, depending on the wine. The site is gorgeous, and the food is as well, but I just didn’t like the wines at all. Nearly all were lacking acid, nose of heat and alcohol, and no appreciable difference in terms of varietals or winemaking style.
Our next visit was to the new facility at Justin, whereas our last time visiting (probably 5 years ago?) was at what is now the ‘Wine Society Lounge’ for club members only. Now that Justin is corporate owned, they apparently decided a smart move would be to go with the Temecula-style tasting, whereby you get ‘tickets’ for your tastings. Sigh. In their case, you get a little paper doily that goes on your stem, and when you request a wine, they mark that checkbox off on the paper doily. Quite disappointing, and we couldn’t help but have that experience alter our opinions of the wines, which was interesting, showcasing that the experience you have when tasting often does amplify your overall thoughts on the wines themselves. The wines were treated as checklists, and while we sat outside, and it was pleasant weather, the experience was sterile, and frankly sucked. The staff members were not at all knowledgable about the wines, as when I asked questions about blending or fruit source they clearly stumbled through and made up stories.
Our last visit - to Lone Madrone - was a fantastic one, tied with Calcareous, and showcases the polar opposite experience of Justin’s corporate b.s. - here, the tasting room staff member (Marguerite) was incredibly personable, knowledgable, and considerate. It was a family-style, casual tasting room with an experience that matched it. By my count, they have 26 wines they produce, which is extraordinary. The wines I was particularly pleased with were the '15 Grenache Blanc, '15 Oveja (50% Picpoul Blanc, 50% Grenache Blanc), '13 Nebbiolo (fantastic structure on this wine, even though it’s made in a style that is for more nearer-term drinking, versus…) '10 Bollo, which is barrel-aged much longer prior to release. Was a treat to taste these two next to one another and see how both the vintage and the oak treatment changes the wine. Both excellent. My two favorites of the day were '13 Mouvedre and '13 Tannat, and I don’t think I’ve EVER had a highlight wine be Tannat, so that was my 2nd pleasant surprise of the trip (along with the Calcareous Chardonnay)
Sorry my notes aren’t more specific, but these tastings are more intended (for me) to be experiential, with a dose of ‘what is this winery’s wines like?’ thrown in. I like to highlight the good and bad, both in experience and wines tasted, so it gives folks who are considering visits at any of these places a little prelude of what to expect.
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