Paso Robles Zin

Admittedly, I don't know much about Paso Robles and their winemaking and growing region. I've only had a few wines from there, but so far from what I've tasted I'd like to try more.

Paso AVA has one of the largest temperature swings of all the AVA's in California. In other words, it's really cool / cold in the morning and overnight and very hot during the day. This, of course, depends on how close the vineyards are to the ocean, but the swing is there none the less.

What does this mean? Well, they can grow a lot of different grapes. In fact, over 40 different types of grapes grow in this one area. Everything from Chardonnay to Cabernet, Syrah and Zinfandel.

This bottle of Zin call 'biker' hails from Four Vines Winery in Templeton, CA....This wine is huge! Once the cork was popped, the wines aromas were jumping out of the glass. Tons of blackberry and raspberry along with white black pepper and lots of spices are on the nose. The smell was actually a little overwhelming at first, but after we let it breathe for a moment it calmed down a bit.

In the mouth, it was liquid pleasure. Well balanced, fruity, spicy and a good finish of decent length. There was almost a hint of sweetness like there was a small amount of residual sugar. With only 15% alcohol I would be surprised if that was really the case.

The back label was totally uninformative, but quite entertaining. One thing I've learned about the Paso Robles region is they like to have fun down there. And this back label is a good example....I love the part about this isn't the wine to bring home to your mother. So, I brought it to my mother-in-law instead! About 4500 cases of this wine were produced, so I would expect you would be able to locate it on some wine lists and stores.

I think this wine really got better when we sat down at the dinner table and paired it with the peppercorn / balsamic grilled pork. Amazingly, it went well with the asparagus too - one of the harder food items to pair with. Almost a little too powerful on its own, the wine became an integral part of the meal.

The great thing about wine is that you don't have to travel to taste different areas. I can easily close my eyes and imagine myself in the central coast drinking this wine. It's always fun to explore other areas through wine, but mostly I enjoy coming home.

Cheers!