Wine Tasting in Paso Robles - December 2009

visited:

Vina Robles - highlights were the 2007 Petite Sirahs - most notably the Penman Springs Vineyard and Jardine (which also uses Penman Springs fruit) bottlings. Penman Springs owners Carl and Beth McCasland are good friends of Jennifer and Don and make a damn fine Petite Sirah of their own. The Penman Springs bottle was particularly dark and rich. Purchased bottles of both.

Robert Hall - met Sunny in the tasting room - had a great dry sense of humor. And he enjoyed forcing us to blind taste and guess the varietals. Did not do too well but nailed the Cabernet Franc. Decent wines but nothing spectacular. Picked up a bottle of the Cabernet Franc.

Tablas Creek - tasted through a lot of wine. The 2007 Cotes du Tablas blanc was good, the 2007 Espirit du Beaucastel blanc was fantastic with a great nose of flowers and tropical fruit. The 2006 Syrah was very good as was the 2006 Espirit du Beaucastel rouge. The 2007 Espirit du Beaucastel rouge was phenomenal. More fruity and full flavored than the leaner 2006 it had lots of dark fruits and a nice delicate earthy. mineral note. Also notable was the 2007 Tannat, a dark and brooding wine tasting with nice boysenberry flavors. Picked up bottles of the Espirit du Beaucastel rouge 2006 and 2007 as well as the 2006 Syrah and 2007 Tannat.

Denner - Also had quite a bit of wine here. Favorite was the 2007 Syrah, which exhibited lots of rich, extracted cassis, blackberry fruits along with nice minerality and well integrated french oak. The Grenache was excellent as well. I don't typically like grenache much on its own, but this wine really jumped from the glass with flowers and jammy cherry and raspberry fruit notes. I'm never a huge fan of the Ditch Digger with its strong mineral and roasted game elements, but it is clearly a well made wine. Also the 2007 Dirt Worshipper, which I've enjoyed in prior vintages, was nice but did not inspire. Purchased bottles of the 2007 Syrah and Grenache.

Zin Alley - Tasted a 2007 zinfandel which was plummy and a bit odd on the nose, a 2007 Nerelli "Generation 4" (Syrah/Zin blend) which was very good with some rich dark syrah fruit to balance the jammy zin fruit, a 2007 Zin Port which was good but a bit simple and a 2007 Nerelli "After Hours" late harvest boytritized dessert wine made from Chardonnay,Pinot Blanc and Gewurztraminer, which was very good with the Gewurztraminer tropical fruit and spice showing through.