Help Requested: Central Coast Wine Suggestions for Tasting Group

My father in law and mother in law have joined a local wine tasting group and it will soon be their turn to host the group. The theme is Central Coast wines. They love cab/zin and would like to focus on wines of either grape. Naturally, as their wine-obsessed son in law, they’ve asked for my assistance in picking out wines. On average, the group has been spending ~$25/bottle and they need 5 bottles. I’d like to help them find 5 wines that fit together somehow (ie same vineyard, same wine over 5 years, same producer multi vineyards etc). The problem is that I am a burg/champagne guy, so I’m really not terribly informed when it comes to advising them on what the best Central Coast Cab/Zin options…this is where I’m hoping you all can help. Suggestions?

Guidelines:

  1. wines must be from the Central Coast region
  2. No whites (my in-law’s rules)
  3. Prefer Zins or Cabs
  4. Must be available on-line (preferably from one store) and ready to ship in time for receipt in early April
  5. $25 average per bottle cost…some can be more as long as others are less.
  6. As their wine-snob son in law, they’re expecting miracles from me so help please! [cheers.gif]

Thanks in advance for any help/suggestions you all have for me.

-Rick

Rick,

You know my take on the term ‘Central Coast’, eh? Not sure folks would use ‘North Coast’ in the same way here . . . [soap.gif] [stirthepothal.gif] [snort.gif]

I would think that cabs would be more ‘distinct’ from this ‘way too large’ area than zins because cabs are grown throughout the region (not so with zins).

Plenty of <$25 cabs in the Paso area - Justin, Eberle, J Lohr, etc . . .

Keep us posted.

Cheers!

At the top of your list has to be the Hope family’s Treana cabernet. It’s been ranked as high as #3 overall on Vivino [which has hundreds of thousands of wines in its database].

You would hate Treana, but newbies guzzle it as though it were a chocolate milkshake [which it kinda is - kinduva chocolate eggnog nutmeg clove milkshake with lots of heavily oaked bourbon and maybe some isopropyl rubbing alcohol thrown in for good measure].

Your budget won’t allow for the Hope family’s high end “Austin Hope” cabernets [$50], but definitely you should look for their “Austin Hope Quest” meritage blend [57% CS, 23% ME, 15% PV, 5% PS, about $25].

And you’d need to pool together almost the entire budget to score a single bottle of L’Aventure [pushing triple digits].

Daou Cab should be in the $25 range and widely available

Good luck on the miracle. With the constraints listed it will be tough. It would be a lot easier if they chose Rhone varietals.

agreed…

Agreed - but if you’re going to do that, I would get more ‘specific’ than Central Coast. If one was going to do a cab tasting north of SF, my guess is that you would focus on Napa OR Sonoma OR Lake Counties - not combine all three . . .

Cheers

No Rhone’s or Pinot, eh?

Bishop’s Peak Cab @ $18ish
Justin Cabernet @ $20 (less at Costco)
Notary Public Cabernet is easy to find @ $25
Jonata’s The Pairing Cab / Red Blend is mostly Central Coast grapes @ $25
Halter Ranch Cab @ $35ish
Domaine Eden Cab $40ish (if we’re counting Santa Cruz)
Brave & Maiden Cabernet @ $40

Happy Canyon is my favorite spot in SB for Cabs, but usually around $50.

As others have mentioned, “Central Coast” is super broad. Technically Livermore is Central Coast AVA. Maybe narrow the focus a bit? And consider throwing some Syrah in there. Stolpman Estate Syrah (among many many more) is great, and right in that price range.

Opolo Summit and Mountain Zins are usually in the 17-23 dollar range. Maybe some of the Ancient Peaks stuff? That usually works for casual drinkers.

We make a central coast cab under our P’tit Paysan label from vines 30-60 years old for under $25. It’s a minor miracle, but not impressive if you’re looking for blueberry milkshake from CA. You can find the Beckmen estate Cab Sauv in that price point. I think the Daou basic Cab Sauv gets down there, but I’ve never tried it. Their upper tier wines can be very good.
Stolpman Syrah is a good suggestion, that wine bangs for the money.

Thanks to everyone for the feedback and I recognize that this challenge is a tough one and do appreciate the thoughtful responses thus far.

@Larry Schaffer - I hope all is well my friend. I totally agree that “Central Coast” is an overly broad term with little/no meaning (aside from “this really large part of California”) but, unfortunately, it’s also the theme that has been handed to me. As my in-laws started describing the theme I knew I wanted to get more narrow but, with the $25/bottle budget, I started struggling to come up with a cogent plan on how to do so. Cabernets from Paso seems like a good suggestion so thanks for weighing in.

@Nathan Smyth - its funny you mention it, but the 2015 Austin Hope Treana Cab is EXACTLY the wine my in-laws showed up with this past weekend for me to try. While it wasn’t in my wheelhouse, I can totally understand the appeal and why it is popular.

@joe Raymond - Daou is a new name to me…thanks for the suggestion.

@Eric Snyder - thanks for the great list. I like the Stolpman suggestion…I haven’t had one of them in years but I have enjoyed the ones I did have (and all of the Arcadian Stolpman vineyard syrahs I’ve had as well).

@Chris Johnson - thanks for the Opolo suggestion…I’ll check them out.

@Ian Brand - Blueberry Milkshakes aren’t required and, honestly, I don’t know the group’s preferences beyond my in-laws so find it hard to suggest a style. That said, I’ll be sure to check out the P’tit Paysan….sounds interesting.

I tasted the Ancient Peak wines tonight. Karl, the owner?, was in town for a tasting with their local distributor. They’re new to our market. Great QPR wines. Really enjoyed their Merlot and Renegade syrah blend. Both under $22 retail. The Oyster Ridge was also really nice. Interesting price point at $52.

I’m drinking the 2017 le P’tit Payson Cab right now at a wine bar, and you can color me wildly impressed. Medium bodied, nuanced, more classic/old school style cabernet with a slight herbal quality on the finish and zero signs of oak…all for $24??? This is no joke, and with it being my first time trying the wine, I’m shocked more peeps dont post about it (seems like it would be a clear QPR cab winner for many Berserkers l). @IAN - great stuff buddy!

Agreed on all fronts. Have more than a few bottles in the cellar. Wanna splurge try the I. Brand and Family Monte Bello Rd Cab. but its 2.5x the price.

Thanks for the reco Sean! Based on this bottle, I will definitely search that Monte Bello Rd out!

Sean and Rich – thanks so much. Making that P’tit Paysan Cab has been a surprise, we certainly never planned on Cab Sauv being a dominant variety in our winery, but you go with what’s in the ground. For us, we found several older cab vineyards that growers were struggling to find homes for and thinking of tearing up, so we developed a wine around them. I had my misgivings initially, but the response has been fantastic and the wine fits so well under the idea of P’tit Paysan – that is, unassuming, terroir specific wines that offer terrific value and utility for the table. The 2018 will be labeled as a San Benito County Old Vine as we’ve dropped our youngest vineyard and the average vine age is now over 50.

As far as the lack of attention on wine boards, I’m not particularly worried about it. What sells at a rate you can make a living off of and what excites board denizens are not often the same thing. As long as we’re making wine that reflects the land and of a quality we’re proud of, I find being in the former camp far preferable. It’s funny though, publications like Vinous will only look at our wines from the Santa Cruz Mountains and the Santa Lucia Highlands because, apparently, the other areas and appellations don’t register. Check out our P’tit Paysan Chard if you haven’t yet. It’s of the same vein, classic, well made wine from coastal California at approachable prices and actual volume. There are worse things to hang your hat on.

Love it Ian - thanks for chiming in! Just a great/classic cab for a silly price - I will absolutely be buying more, and will look for the chard as well.

And I totally get/appreciate the wine board comment…although I do think that many of the peeps on here would really dig this wine. Should probably be the #1 response to the ‘what’s the best $25 and under cab’ threads that pop up every other month.

That’s kind of you, Rich.