50+ wines tasted in a little over 24 hours.
On our way down to Paso, we dropped into Rhys and got the royal treatment from winemaker, Jeff Brinkman. He took us out into the vineyard and walked us through the slope, soil and strategy of letting the earth and nature produce the right expression for their fruit and thus wine.
We went into the cave and we treated to a number of 2012 barrel tastings. Some were single barrel and in other instances, Jeff blended a few barrels to give us a sense of how their blending works.
2012 Rhys Home Pinot
Great clarity, fresh energetic fruit with good acidity, nice texture and great mouthfeel. Mid weight, elegant red fruit
2012 Rhys Family Farm Pinot
A little less sophisticated than the Home but not lacking in flavor profile. Deep red fruit with a little less structure but delicious. Flavor profile could be affected by the clay soil there
2012 Rhys Sklyline Pinot
Musky, spicy forest floor, great purity of fruit. I got some sandalwood and pine. Bright red dark fruit. Very structured. May need more cellar time that will be rewarded
2012 Rhys Swan Terrace Pinot
We had a blend of three subsections. Gorgeous wine, pure expression of whole cluster, rose pedals and bright cherry, some primary minerality. Elegant with great stuffing.
2012 Rhys Alpine Pinot
We had a blend from barrels from the steepest part of the vineyard. Used to be Alpine HIllside fruit. Bigger, richer and more concentrated with an intense mouthfeel. 12.5% alcohol
2012 Horseshoe Pinot
Sea floor bed at this site. Monterey shale with small vines and smaller clusters. The soil makes this wine a bit more austere. Very dark brooding fruit. Somewhat linear with floral notes of violet and lavender. Extremely structured. Somewhat salty with almost a saline/soy thing going on making this wine the most savory of the barrels
Next morning, started in Paso early morning since we only had one day.
Turley
First time in the new tasting room on Vineyard Drive which was a major upgrade from the dark office.
2011 Turley Old Vines Zin
Lightweight, peppery, dry earthy fruit. Some heat on finish.
2011 Turley Dusi Zin
Very plummy, muscular, chewy black fruit with great acidity and mouthfeel
2011 Turley Pesenti Zin
More elegant than Dusi Moe red and rapsberry fruit
2011 Turley Ueberroth Zin
My favorite of the Zin lineup. Totally delicious with plum and raspberry. Great fruit profile.
2006 Turley Rattlesnake Petit Syrah
- green nose but not on palate. Very tannic but very well structured with deep dark purple fruit. Needs a few more years. Huge wine.
2006 Turley Hayne Petit Syrah
- very earthy nose, dark brooding fruit, chewy and gorgeous. WE bought a few of these.
Next stop was Ambyth. This is a very interesting project that is dry farmed, off the beaten path, organic and biodynamic. The Harts are Welch and I think the name means Forever in Welch. They we setting up for their release party so we spent time with assistant winemaker, Frederick. He is very french and strongly opinionated about letting nature determine the wines. He had the quote of the trip: " In order to drink the stars, you may need to eat the dirt."
In general, their style is to produce food friendly low alcohol wines with no additives or preservatives. In general, these wines were not my style. Some were fun but I am not sure how they will age. Many of the wines had a tremendous amount of acidity. The property is spectacular.
2011 Ambyth Priscus
Tropical nose, great acidity, 100% fermented, bright yellow fruit. Crisp.
2012 Ambyth Grenache Blanc
One barrel produced. Orange marmalade profile with a tangerine/orange profile. Very different. Not my thing.
2012 Ambyth Rousanne
Lots of acidity, bright yellow fruit. Not memorable.
2010 Ambyth Mouvedre
two barrels produced. Very light, red bright fruit. Good balance but somewhat candied. Not a typical expression of this grape for me
2010 Ambyth Grenache
My favorite of their lineup. Yummy red fruit. Good pizza wine
2010 Ambyth Counoise
27 cases made. Tart, interesting profile. red pomegranate and rhubarb
2010 Ambyth Revera
This was ablend, mostly mouvedre. Nice.
2010 Ambyth Adamo
Another blend, mostly grenache. Easy to drink. No specific notes.
2010 Ambyth Maiestas
This is their syrah offering. Very light style. Not my take on syrah.
2012 Ambyth Viognier OW
- this was an orange wine. Skins kept on the Viognier. Very weird profile, not my thing.
Booker
Great tasting room and two excellent tasting assistants. Nicest tasting room experience of the trip. In general, I think some of his 2011s may be in a dumb phase and showed ok but not as well as older vintage with some bottle age. Great ingredients though.
2011 Booker White
Very typical white rhone blend from their previous releases. Nice well integrated fruit. Nice but some heat on finish
2012 Booker Pink
Not my thing.
2011 Booker Oublie
bright red fruit, nice acidity, most approachable of the tasting
2011 Booker Remnant
Used to be Alchemist. Very yummy. Chewier than Oublie. Had a bit of a tart finish. Hopefully will mellow out.
2011 Booker Vertigo
Thick and chewy, will need a lot of time, lots of acidity, good fruit but tight.
Caliza: Spanish for limestone. New name for me but since it was next to Booker it was an efficient stop.
2012 Caliza Viognier
Crisp, yellow fruit. Too much acidly and hot for my taste
2011 Caliza Kissin Cousins
Much better profile in this white blend. Very esy drinker with a nice floral component
2012 Caliza Pink
Once again, not my thing
2010 Caliza Azimuth (we bought this one) Very savory nose. Elegant wine that should be food friendly. Red cherry and plums
2010 Caliza Syrah
Rough around the edges. Drying finish, Heat on nose and palate. Very savory but not a great syrah profile for me
2010 Caliza Sympatico
Mostly Tempranillo, roasted fruit profile, high octate and toomuch heat for me
We then met up with wine maker NIck at Nicora. He just moved into his warehouse operation and was still setting up his tasting area. This is the kind of guy you want to root for. Great guy, modest, low key guy. Great wines. We bought both wines and begged him for any back vintage. This is a guy to watch. Name comes from NIck and his grandfather’s name Ora.
2011 Nicora Euphoric
This is a big wine. Herbs, spices and concentrated strawberry fruit. Well structured, floral, nice finish with a touch of sweetness
2011 Nicora GSM
Cool fruit profile, mostly syrah and then grenache. Concrete tanks used. Well balanced. Great purity of fruit. delicious. He needs a better name for this wine.
We then headed to Epoch which was a disappointing visit both in the tasting room and with their wines. Their staff seemed arrogant to us and not very friendly. They we also the most aggressive of the handlers and must get paid on commission. Wines were extremely hot and disjointed. So not my style
2012 Epoch Rose
Crisp wine with not a tone of fruit for a rose. Too much acidity.
2010 Epoch Veracity
Most approachable and fruit forward of the wines tasted. Spicy red fruit. Very hot and messy on the finish.
2010 Epoch Estate Blend
great midpalate and nice fruit on entry too but the finish was so hot that it ruined the wine for me.
2009 Epoch Tempranillo
Apparently only available in the tasting room. Very tannic black fruit with lots of heat.
We needed to end the vineyard visits but didn’t want Epoch to be our last impression so we headed over to Villa Creek. First time in their tasting room. Last time was on the picnic bench out back. These wines were the stars of the day and Cris Cherry and his wife couldn’t have been nicer. He spent a great deal of time with us. We ended up leaving with a case of wine, spread out from their lineup. HIs wines are getting better and better. This is a list that I went dormant on but will now be back on my annual Paso purchases.
2011 Vila Creek Willow Creek Cuvee
Great balance, red yummy fruit, great mouthfeel
2010 Villa Creek Damas Noir
savory and excellent. May be one of my favorites of the day. Red cherry fruit with some savory and asian spices
2011 Villa Creek High Road
Needs some time in bottle, very fruity, fun to drink
2011 Villa Creek Avenger
No notes taken as we were chatting but remember it being excellent.
Before dinner, we headed over to Paso Underground. This was a fun stop and ended up becoming a long tasting with Turtle Rock’s winemaker. We first started at Clos Solene which are making well made, artisanal wines.
2012 Close Solene Hommage Blanc
60% Rousanne, 40% Viognier
tropical fruit with lemon and some melon. 100 case production. Well made but a bit hot on finish.
2011 Clos Solene Harmonie
Nice floral nose, jammy fruit, heat apparent, tannic backbone is in way of the fruit right now but has great ingredients
2011 Clos Solene Hommage A Nos Paire Reserve Means “thank you to my mentors”. Cool nose, easy to drink, well balanced, great acidity and was my favorite of the lineup. Expensive compared to other values in Paso.
We finished at Turtle Rock.Don Burns is the winemaker/owner and also works as assistant wine maker at Saxum. He is from a multi-generational Paso family and embodies the true spirit of the area. Humble and passionate. These wines are mispriced, way too low IMHO and represent an amazing QPR in the area. We bought two mixed cases.
2011 Turtle Rock Willow’s Tickled Pink
- best rose of the trip. Fresh fruit, grenache from James Berry, well balanced. great quaffer
2010 Turtle Rock Willow white
Sauv Blanc and I think Viognier blend. Bright yellow fruit. Nice combo. Bright and summery.
2011 Turtle Rock Westberg Zin
Light, elegant, food wine. Nice spice without a lot of pepper. Great balance. Bravo
2011 Turtle Rock Maturin
No formal notes. Fruit from James Berry Vineyard. Great structure, great drinker.
We ended the night for dinner at Villa Creek and got the royal treatment from the manager Tom. The three of shared three great wines. I have pictures of the wines but the night was fuzzy at that point.