Wine Tasting - Paso Robles - December 2008

Visited:
Calcareous - (nothing too notable)
Jada - A new find (on Vineyard Drive, West side), I liked the Mirror syrah/cab blend the best
Denner - 2005 Syrah is still my favorite, preferred over the 2006 and the ditch digger blend. Also enjoyed the 2006 Dirt Worshipper (95/5 Syrah/Viognier) which was very good if a bit wild.
Linne Calodo - Love the wines of Linne Calodo, but this was not a good tasting experience. The room was packed, the wines were too cold, the pours barely coated the glass... The worst bit was finding out that the "Leona's" blend was to be discontinued as Leona's vineyard had been infected with blight. That had been my favorite in 2005 and 2006, preferred even to the Cherry Red. Their Nemesis syrah is incredible (the 2004 was one of the best I've had) but at 95% and no discount, it's too steep.
Turley - All '06s - tasted Juvenile, Old Vines, Pesenti, Dusi and Ueberroth. Juvenile tasted young as usual. Old Vines is good. All three single vineyard bottlings were excellent with an edge to the Dusi (Dante).
L'Aventure - What can I say - this place puts on a good tasting! We were serviced by Jay who we saw during our last visit - a freindly guy who knows the wine and gives you a solid pour that you can swirl around the glass and really get into. The 2006's are stunning. I was blown away by the Estate Cuvee as well as the Cote a Cote (I did not care as much for the 05 Cote a Cote last time). I bought the second to last bottle of the Estate Cuvee. Also they were tasting their Cabernet, a somewhat rare treat in the tasting room I believe. Wow dense, dark and rich, but built for aging. I think Parker was closer than Spectator on his ratings of these gems. The wines are expensive here, but the quality is top notch.