Turley - what's the scoop?

Just made the mailing list. Curious from the board members - what do you think of this winery and how does it stack up against Ridge, Bedrock, etc., from which I’m already buying zins. Not sure that I need another Zin producer, but don’t want to pass up a good thing. Thoughts?

In a word, they are “different” than the ones you mention. I buy from a number of zin producers and Turley has its own style. Some of the vineyards are excellent and some are OK. Use Cellartracker to your advantage to get an idea of what each vineyard was like on previous releases.
Also, you may not get the top shelf offerings until you buy a few releases.

Love their PS, especially with about 8-10 years of age. Believe there are better values/styles of Zin out there. You’ve named 2 already.

I’m biased by my love of Zin and also my friendship and (non-profit) association with Tegan.

That said, Turley has a unique (IMO) status amongst CA producers. No producers have as broad a reach as Turley (which not only covers North Coast vineyards, but places like Lodi, Contra Costa, the Sierra Foothills and Paso. Their vineyard management is impeccable. They have access to fruit from vineyards like Ueberroth, Vineyard 101, Fredericks, Library, Pesenti and Hayne that few others have access to. The winemaking, under Tegan’s direction is stellar.

Oh, and I like Turley.

Thanks gents. I’d like to try if I can figure out space. Do these age well or are they more “mid-term” drinkers?

The Petites seem to just get better and better and I’ve never tasted an over-the-hill Zin (for me as old as 15 years).

I drink most of my Turleys in the first 3-4 years short of their PS and all the Hayne Vnyd offerings.

I wouldn’t know. I usually have mine consumed within a few years. They all need at least year or two after release and the PS needs years. I haven’t popped any of mine yet.

Turley is exceptional.

The wines have big fruit, but it’s usually very well-defined, brambly, fresh purple berry fruit, not blueberry milkshake or creamy or black fruit.

The oak regimen, particularly in the last 5 years or so, is dialed down to where the fruit has center stage, the oak adds some spice, but the wines don’t taste of a lot of vanilla, chocolate, coffee and so forth. The alcohol levels are very high (or maybe they’re just more honest with their labels?), and yet you wouldn’t guess it most of the time.

I don’t know the deal with the mailing list, as I just buy a box full whenever I pass through Paso, and I’ve heard mixed things about the ordering and selection and all. But the wines are a benchmark for the varietal and for Paso Robles.

As far as comps, they are closer to Carlisle, Dehlinger or Seghesio SVD probably in style, and not in the more claret-like style of Ridge and Bedrock (those also usually being zinfandel blends).

The two best wines of theirs consistently, for my preferences, are the Ueberroth and the Pesenti, in that order. The Juvenile offers exceptional value at $19 or whatever, and it’s a wine which is true introduction to the Turley style on the low end of the scale. In other words, it’s a step down from the SVDs, but it’s very much a Turley.

For me, the Dusi is a bit too big, probably more of a crowd pleaser but not quite in my wheelhouse.

The Hayne is a wine of great depth, class and breeding, one which (unlike most Turley zins, which I think are at their best from release for 3-4 years) rewards ageing.

Also, Scott, if I might make any inferences from you being from Texas, Turley zin is almost the perfect wine for Texas barbeque, and for upper-quality Mexican dinners (e.g. ones based around carne asada, grilled chicken and fish, that kind of thing). The fruit is big enough not to get lost in those big flavors, the spiciness of the wines matches the food, and the wines are not tannic and thus avoid tasting bitter next to the heat that you may have in the food. Turley is also a wine that is a major crowd-pleaser, while still something a wine lover (at least a non AFWE one) can savor.

Again, I don’t know about the list, but they’re wines you definitely need to try, and particularly the Ueberroth and Pesenti. They are world class wines.

What the others have said, and if you are a Zin-fan, odds are you will like Turley. Allocations are small for the most part, and odds are you won’t see many of their expressions at retail. I’d say try some—the Juveniles or Old Vine Zin I would put in the great QPR category like Bedrock’s Old Vine Zin.

Although I’ve drifted from Zins recently, I still believe Turley’s are some of the best Zins out there. I just wish they would go back to a normal bottle - they are certainly hard to fit/stack, etc!

One unfortunate negative is the bottles. They are attractive and distinctive, but they don’t fit all but the most generous wine racking, they don’t stack at all, and it’s just frustrating. I’m sure you’ve seen them before, but it’s definitely an irritant.

If I remember correctly I didn’t get offered the better vineyards like Ueberroth or Hayne and probably some of the others until I bought a couple releases. The Juvenile turned me off. I thought it was an odd expression of zin.

Timely question, Scott - I just got the same email. Definitely agree with the others that Turley has a unique style. The times I’ve gotten to try their wines I found them to be very floral, perfumey, bright, and lifted, with an almost weightless texture (despite the fruit and abv). I was intrigued enough to try to get on the list.

I haven’t opened any of my Bedrocks (yet) but I thought Carlisle’s 2010 Rossi Ranch had a much denser, weightier character than what I’ve tried from Turley so far.

A 2006 Dogtown a few months ago was doing just fine.

+1 Pretty much what I was going to say. To me the aromatics of these wines are also nearly unmatched. And compared to Cali Pinots, which make up most of my mailing list buys, these average $30-$50 instead of $50-$75 and I enjoy them just as much given the right mood.

As far as the bottles, I built my own racking and used my Turley bottles as my “worst case scenario” for slot sizing

I did the same thing, but the custom cabinet builder then didn’t do them right. He rebuilt it for me, and incredibly, they were way too small yet again the second time. I took a credit against the price reluctantly.

He’s since gone out of business – shocking. You have a business that does one thing, make custom wine cabinets, and in two tries you can’t even come close to putting the correct rack sizes into them, ones that were written into the plans and which I made a huge deal about before construction.

I still enjoy Turley. They don’t seem as big as they used to, a bit more refined. Also enjoy Carlisle. I think I am too heavy in Pinots, so I am dropping some this year to buy more Cab and Zins. We eat a lot of pizza and Italian, and also a lot of grilled meats and game, so Turley and Zins work well for us.

I think the other comments are spot on.

I have not had any Bedrock, and would like to try some. Maybe at a Chicago offline someone could share, and I’ll bring some Turley or Carlisle.

I don’t know what your cellar situation is, but have you tried alternating orientation of each bottle in a row? This probably wouldn’t work in a diamond bin, but in a square bin, they stack beautifully this way. They fit together like a puzzle both across a row and in layers up the bin. I’ve never seen another bottle type that stacks that efficiently.

I recall someone teasing Scott about being on every mailing list. It reminds me of me from about five years ago. I don’t miss those days. Neither does my wallet.

My feeling is that they’ve dialed down the oak, which leaves the wines still just as exuberant and joyous, but more defined, fresh and complex, and less heavy and rich.

I’d be interested to hear Dildine or anyone else with a Turley track record chime in if they agree. The wines have tasted fresher and more balanced to me the last five years or so, even though the alcohol levels in the 15s and 16s have not trended down. Even Berry Crawford, who has mostly an AFWE palate, was impressed trying Turley last year, at least as I recall.

So often, big fruit and big oak go together in a winery (e.g. Quilceda, Lewis, Martinelli), that I think many of us have blurred the two notions together. But when you get big, ripe, high quality fruit, at a winery that does not overseason it with oak, you can have some terrific results that are almost a best of both worlds. Denner and Carlisle are others that I think are finding this sweet spot for me.