Awesome Zin from Paso Robles

Good Morning!

Over the weekend I had house guests and before they arrived I made a point to pick up some Zinfandel because that is a grape varietal that my buddy Jon really likes. Since I am aware we seem to drink like fish, I did not want to break the bank on something so spectacular like a Turley Zinfandel, I went to the store and looked for Zin’s I had not tried before and I budgeted $15 per bottle.

We tried some studs and some duds….The best Zinfandel of the weekend was Project Paso 2009 Paso Robles Old Vine Zinfandel. If you are not familiar with wines from Paso Robles (this is pronounced Ro “bulls”), it is an area in the Central part of California and it can get really warm there during the growing season. There are a couple of grape varietals that are doing really well in the area, one being Zinfandel and the other being Grenache. If you have the time and money and want to hunt down an awesome Paso wine, find Saxum wines, and the winemaker Justin Smith.

I had the good fortune to meet Justin once and he is the most down to earth guy. He is young, energetic and he lets the grapes be who they are and he does not manipulate them into trying to be such a bomb of alcohol and fruit. Elegant, smooth and balanced. Anyway, let me back up to the Project Paso wine, The label said Old Vine Zinfandel and since the wine is from Paso Robles, here was what I was thinking…Lots of rustic, blueberries and dried fruits and high alcohol. This grape has strong potential for high alcohol because of it’s DNA and it is really warm in Paso Robles so I made some judgements just from that information.

This wine was earthy, cherry, blueberry and peppery, it was rustic and you could feel the heat from the alcohol, so my pre-judgement was pretty much spot on. This wine is made by a very famous winemaking family, the Sebastiani’s and the winemaker is Greg Kitchens. I bought this bottle for $10.99 at the grocery store and it does have a zork, not a cork or screwtop. (If you have not seen a zork before, it is easy to use recycled plastic top and it peels away from the bottle exposing the plastic cork), folks who like young wine and are also aware of using more “green” and environmentally friendly products, they LOVE zorks!

Anyway, We loved this wine, I will buy more and I will grill out with wine. It works beautifully with BBQ sauce!

Much LOVE and wine,

Tammi