A most ungodly blueberry-puree choked with vanilla and licorice, coalesced with the phantasmic aspic of blood orange and chocolate–all in a medium impossible to see through. Oak, the visions of oak, the ghosts of oak, and the Promised Land of oak to come all crammed into a nose so jammily putrid and plugging and burnt, systemic blocks to identifying it as real wine fall automatically into place.

In the mouth, tooth-numbingly sweet gravy invades all pores, cramming grainy insolence and flat-out ignorance of anything resembling Bordeaux into your face. Contrived and fruit-choked, ridiculously syruped, gaggingly oaked, so thick and concentrated even the alcohol can’t shine through. Color-by-numbers tannin giving the fans what they want to feel in the finish.

For someone like me who tries to remain positive that wine–and especially Paso Robles–is generally headed in the right direction–thematically–this is an instant tele-port back and a slap in the face to real wine enthusiasts everywhere. This is a tourist wine, plain and simple. A wine for people hooked on PLACE and STORY and therefore unable to SMELL or TASTE. A wine for people with more money than sense and NO concept of what wine actually is. You collect this: You get an asterisk.

2016 JUSTIN VINEYARDS ‘Isosceles Reserve’ BDX Blend Paso Robles 15.5

justinwine.com