Justin Vineyards Paso Robles Cabernet Sauvignon 2004
Sometimes, especially on a cold winter night such as this one, a wine can take on the role of a warm, comforting fire. It’s cold, your bundled up in sweaters, and are looking for a glass of wine that is easy to drink yet full of flavor; that offers some degree of food for thought without being an intellectual exercise; and which is just nice to sip while you while away the evening watching a movie or reading a book on the couch, wrapped up in blankets.
We decided to open a bottle of wine tonight and made the good choice of opening this bottle of cabernet sauvignon from Justin Vineyards. This is, in a sense, a typical California cabernet: velvety texture with plush fruit augmented by a noticeable oakiness. Not the type of wine that we typically delve into, but one that is the product of a wine fascination that briefly grasped hold of me about 2 years ago. As is a common refrain, I read an article, got hooked, and went out and grabbed a few bottles of the wines mentioned in the article.
In this case it was an article in The Art Of Eating entitled, “Hunting For California Terroir: Western Paso Robles”. The article was actually quite good and explored an idea that is definitely of interest to me: how much of a role does, or perhaps can, terroir play in California wines? The predominant view of Californian wines is that they are the product of the winemaker, and not the place the grapes are grown or the wine is made. This is a perception that is well-deserved, given the general ubiquity of wines such as cabernet sauvignon made from nearly anywhere in California (see Eric Asimov’s recent article in the NY Times for a discussion of some wineries bucking this perception). This stands in stark contrast to European views, France and Italy in particular, which stress the notion of terroir and its predominant role in shaping a wine. Perhaps much of the view of California wine can be attributed to the sheer lack of history and experience in growing grapes and making wine, relative to Europeans, that has led California winemakers to strive to make a specific wine, as opposed to a wine specific to the place. Californians haven’t had centuries to figure out which grapes grow best on which plots of land, and to have this idea become deeply entrenched in the winemaking culture. Instead, California is essentially a viticultural tabula rasa where winemakers, and grape growers, have pursued all sorts of ideas as to grapes, wines, and winemaking methods during the course of the past century or two.
So to consider the idea that there could be an area with a distinct terroir that was expressed in the wines made there is pretty interesting. Certainly, there must be some element of terroir unique to many areas in California. But the question is ultimately whether this terroir is allowed, or enabled, to be expressed in the wine by the winemaker, or whether the winemaking techniques obscure terroir in favor of achieving a specific finished product. There isn’t necessarily a correct answer to this question, but there does exist a certain homogeneity in all-too-many California wines, and so I wonder if there is a grain of truth to the idea.
As for this article, the author generally came away with no clear sense of whether there was a unique terroir in western Paso Robles as expressed in the wines. That is, except for the wines produced from grapes grown in one specific vineyard: the Glenrose Vineyard. This is a highly unique vineyard featuring very chalky soil that is nearly bare with rocks, and is exceedingly steeply sloped and terraced. The grapes, stressed in the extreme, produce a telltale element that the author found in the small handful of wines that he tried that used grapes from the vineyard. There is only one bottle out there that I’ve seen from this vineyard, a wine produced by Tablas Creek, the Las Tablas Estates Glenrose Vineyard 2002. The author himself comments favorably on this wine, and it’s become a sort of dream wine of mine, one that I’d love to try sometime to experience the apparently unique product of this vineyard. One winemaker, speaking of the grapes grown here, was quoted as saying, “You want to stress grapes, but those you almost feel sorry for.” Given that Tablas Creek is a winery known for trying to let the grapes’ natural character come through in the finished wine, I can only imagine that this wine is really quite delicious and unique.
Anyhow, I haven’t touched on this wine yet! Basically, Justin Vineyards was mentioned in this article, and so a couple of years ago we took a shot at 2 bottles of their Cabernet Sauvignon. The bottle itself is sort of a winegeek’s dream, with the following vital stats listed on the label:
- 100% barrel aged 18 months
- 26% new oak
- 24% America, 2% French
- 100% hand harvested
- 100% unfiltered/unfined
- Racked quarterly
- 3-week extended maceration
- 100% cabernet sauvignon
The wine itself is a deep, dark purple, lightening slightly at the edges. The nose has strong notes of raspberry syrup, smoke, and tobacco. The palate has flavors of cherries, tobacco, and anise with an undercurrent of oak and vanilla. The tannins are noticeable, but not overpowering. The finish is medium-length. Actually, the only disappointing aspect of the wine was the finish. Given the presence in the nose and the palate, I was expecting a somewhat more distinct and lengthy finish.
This is a nice, deeply flavored wine. It’s not necessarily one that I would buy again, but that’s mostly because this is not my preferred style of wine. It very nicely fits the bill for this evening, but we wouldn’t drink this too often. I get the impression though that Justin Vineyards makes very solid wines, if a bit oaky for my taste, and I’d be open to trying some of their other offerings in the future. The next time Paso Robles becomes my obsession of the moment…
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