It was a short flight down from Seattle as I embarked on my mid-January visit to Paso Robles — my first visit in a year. The beauty of this region was particularly stunning due to a large amount of rainfall that had graced the region over the winter. What were normally expansive brown patches of land were turned bright green. Crop cover was exceedingly dense for the region, none more so than at Tablas Creek which is some of the most elaborate cover I have ever laid eyes on. I started tasting mostly wines from 2021 and 2022 with some 2020s.
It is fair to say that 2020 was a challenge for much of California, but don’t overlook the top 2020 wines from Paso Robles. Some wines were impacted from a fire near Morrow Bay and while I found more overall inconsistency with wines from 2020, there were certainly some major bright spots. Tablas Creek proprietor Jason Haas found that 2020 was a “difficult year, between heat and fires and smoke and drought, but I felt like Paso Robles has the chance to make some of the best wines of the state. We were far enough south of the fires that the smoke issues were minimal.”
While 2020 had mixed success, Benom’s electric French-born winemaker Guillaume Fabre found 2021 to be a welcome departure from the 2020 vintage. “The 2021s were fermenting beautifully, coming out from a much harder vintage in 2020 due to a long period of heat spikes at the maturation made the 2020 more challenging, and as the 2021s were aging in barrels, it exceeded all of our expectations. The blends came out superbly balanced, a lot of purity and minerality that will make them ageable with a capital A!” Jason Haas agreed, noting 2021 wines “are blockbusters, with plenty of fruit and tannin and excellent structure that should allow them to age for as long as anything we've ever made.”
Jordan Fiorentini of Epoch also had glowing things to say about 2021. “On paper, 2021 looks similar to 2016 and 2018, both what I consider to be ‘classic’ Paso Roblean vintages” she said. Noting “however, in addition to having all the classic attributes of Paso Robles, the 2021s also have a bit more finesse and cool climate characteristics. 2021 was one of my favorite yet, definitely a winemaker’s vintage.” Tasting through her 2021s I was blown away with the overall consistency of the wines — bottlings with serious nerve, flavor density and weight. Saint K winemaker Chris Kiranbay crafts some of the region’s most evocative, full-throttle wines. He admitted that the heat of 2022 brought some challenges explaining “I think in 2022 some larger producers were able to gamble and let fruit hang longer for flavor and sugar development, but being a smaller winery I couldn't risk it” he said. “Everything ended up working out for me, but in hindsight I definitely jumped the gun on picking Pinot and Chard in the Santa Ynez Valley.” 2023 will be a cooler vintage that will no doubt be a stark contrast to 2022. Kiranbay sees 2023 as “looking very promising so far but it felt like we were waiting for sugars to develop and there just wasn't any heat. I had some fruit under contract that never reached desired brix and was able to opt out of the contract” he explained.
As for some of the region’s top wines, Benom and their sister winery Clos Solene continued a long run of world-class. Don’t sleep on the world-class 2021 Benom ‘Muze’ Red Wine (OB, 96) or the 2021 Benom ‘Le Deux Frères’ Red Wine (OB, 96) which are deep and viscous bottlings, with refined tannins and serious structure. Caliza, Booker and Epoch all made world-class 2021 wines. I love the 2021 Caliza ‘Azimuth’ Red Wine (OB, 96) which showcases gorgeous limestone soil character throughout the drinking experience. An epic Syrah from this vintage, the 2021 Booker ‘Ones’ Syrah (OB, 99) has plenty of chalky mineralty to mingle well with the concentrated black fruit flavors. I adored the 2021 Epoch ‘Veracity’ Red Wine (OB, 97) which is a vintage-defining blend of Grenache, Mourvèdre and Syrah. Filled with tension and viscosity, this will surely satisfy any GSM lover. I love The Royal Nonesuch Farm wines none more so than their 2021 ‘Spine’ Syrah (OB, 96) which is deep, with serious weight and wonderfully textured, showing excellent poise. Denner had a beautiful range of wines from their stunning and tension-filled 2021 Viognier (OB, 94) to their 2021 ‘Mother of Exhiles’ (OB, 96) which deftly combines some herbal tones from the Petit Verdot in this inky Cabernet Sauvignon bottling.
For a dense and decadent treat, look to the wines of Herman Story and Saint K — both full-throttle but never lacking in underlying finesse. I adored the 2021 Saint K ‘Everything Is Under Control’ Red Wine (OB, 95) as well as the 2021 Herman Story ‘Bolt Cutter’ Red Wine (OB, 94) which are both inky red blends from this warm vintage. I love the Desperada wines made by Vailia From which focus on beautifully textured and mineral-driven Sauvignon Blanc wines that were some of the great whites I tasted including her 2022 Desperada ‘Carmen’ Sauvignon Blanc (OB, 93) which is filled with lime zest and stony minerals.
Clearly not all Paso wines operate at warp speed. The refinement and elegance exuded in the Tablas Creek wines have been evident in the glass for more than 20 years. For my palate the finest white wine made in this region is the 2022 Tablas Creek ‘Espirit Blanc de Tablas’ White Wine (OB, 96) which is dense, nutty and mineral-laden. The flavor and aromatic range is really thrilling as this has excellent verve despite the heat of the vintage. In terms of 2020 wines, I was enamored by the 2020 Daou ‘Patrimony’ Cabernet Sauvignon (OB, 98) which is dense, round and seamless, with no rough edges. This was one of the best Paso wines made in 2020. L’Aventure also made some sensational 2020 wines. Their 2020 L’Aventure ‘Cote A Cote’ Red Wine (OB, 96) and ‘Estate Cuvee’ (OB, 97) are impeccably balanced and elegant, with plenty of power. For my palate these wines have improved in quality over the past few years. Similarly a winery producing consistently great wines, Law Estate made a beautiful range of wines, none more so than their Priorat-inspried 2021 Law Estate ‘Audacious’ Red Wine (OB, 95) which is dense, chewy and showing very pretty red fruit and red floral tones from the Grenache.
Many Paso winemakers will contend that poor vintages in this region quite simply do not exist. Having tasted here for twenty plus years I can’t think of a vintage that was really lacking in overall quality, as even the cooler 2011 wines have come around beautifully. 2020 has come and gone and might not be a banner year for Paso, but rather a vintage that possesses a wide range in quality, with its peaks being top bottlings not to be missed. 2021 leaves no doubt as a banner year for Paso Robles wines. While 2022 and 2023 presented their own challenges from Mother Nature, I have feel confident from my tastings that quality will remain very high in these highly divergent vintages. Here are my latest tasting notes from the wines of Paso Robles.
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