Catching up on some wines from last month…
2024 Red Car Wine Rosé of Pinot Noir from the Sonoma Coast, an area known for its great Pinot. A very pale pink hue with clean, fresh lemon notes and a floral aroma. The story of the winery is rich and poignant, starting in a garage in Culver City. We won’t attempt to summarize it here but recommend you read the history on the winery’s website. Put your feet up and enjoy the read with a glass of their Rosé.
Home – Red Car Wine | Pinot Noir & Chardonnay from the Sonoma Coast
2024 Turley Wine Cellars Rosé of Zinfandel – yes, more Turley! And why not? Made from select vineyards throughout California from grapes picked early specifically for this wine, it showed honeydew and apricot/stone fruit on the tastebuds. Very smooth and straightforward.
Turley Wine Cellars | California, Unfiltered
2016 Sandlands Mataro – speaking of Turley, did you know that Turley’s Winemaker/Vineyard Manager Tegan Passalacqua has his own label as well? Sandlands focuses on California’s “forgotten” varieties, many grown in “decomposed granite” – i.e. sand. This wine is made from Mataro grapes from San Benito County on the Central Coast of California. In case you’re not familiar with the grape name, Mataro is also known as Monastrell and Mourvedre. Bing cherry aroma and notes with smooth balanced tannins. A kiss of white pepper and a medium mouthfeel rounded out the smooth full-bodied finish.
While we are writing about Sandlands, we also recently had Tegan’s 2022 Sandlands Semillon. From vines planted in 1979 in Amador County, this wine had delicious notes of citrus and tangerine, a full mouthfeel and a medium finish.
2016 Benom “Origin” – once again we find ourselves back in Paso Robles. This 100% Cabernet Sauvignon comes from the Hawks Hill Vineyard in the Adelaida district, a sub-AVA of the Paso Robles AVA. Very ripe cherry zest, medium/long mouthfeel and a lengthy finish. Extremely graceful and elegant. We actually met French brothers Guillaume and Arnaud Fabre sometime prior to their creating Benom: Arnaud at Law Estate Wines and Guillaume when he was just forming his winery Clos Solene, which he still owns and operates. Combining their skills at Benom enabled them to fulfill a longtime dream. The picture accompanying this article is the same one that accompanied our report when we visited their tasting room several years ago: Perlis Picks: Benom Wines – Eve’s Wine and Spirits 101.
BENOM Winery & Tasting Room – Paso Robles, CA – Tin City
Since we’re now in Paso again, it seems like a good time to catch up on some of Janell Dusi’s wines…
2016 J Dusi Escandalosa – this unusual and “scandalous” blend of 41% Zinfandel, 35% Mourvedre and 24% Petite Sirah from the Paso Robles AVA was deep, dark burgundy in color and plum, cherry and blueberry on the nose. The long finish and full mouthfeel resulted in a very tasty and unique wine.
2016 Paper Street “The Narrator” – The Paper Street label is devoted to wines made solely from the Paper Street Vineyard on the West Side of Paso Robles. Janell’s father Mike found the high elevation parcel of land and he and Janell’s brothers Matt and Michael cleared it and planted the vineyard, with help from the rest of the family. 2016 was the first official vintage from this property. This particular wine is a blend of 46% Mourvèdre, 31% Grenache and 23% Syrah. Very well balanced, with Bing cherry and white pepper showing on the nose and palate. Janell is not the only winemaker making wines from this property as you can find it on other labels as well.
We had a couple other “Paper Streets” as well from the same property…
2016 Paper Street Zinfandel – Almost black in color slightly fading to a deep magenta on the edge of the glass. Big ripe plum on the palate along with a full mouthfeel and a very long smooth finish. We know we are big fans of the historic Dusi Vineyard Zinfandels, but this young “sibling” vineyard gives them a run for their money!2016 Paper Street “Cornflower Blue” – This 100% Mourvedre showed ripe blueberry and cocoa notes and a long lush finish. It really shows how great Paso can be with this varietal and the aging on this and the other Paper Streets just added to the complexity and balance of all these wines.
Karen and Michael Perlis have been pursuing their passion for wine for more than 30 years. They have had the good fortune of having numerous mentors to show them the way and after a couple of decades of learning about wine, attending events, visiting wineries and vineyards, and tasting as much wine as they possibly could, they had the amazing luck to meet Eve Bushman. Michael and Karen do their best to bring as much information as possible about wine to Eve’s Wine 101 faithful readers.
