Medium ruby, bricking a bit into a wide amber staining edge. All sugar and leather and chocolate in the nose, big moldy fruit forgotten in the bottom of the bowl, sun-baked earth, meaty pizza and roasted vegetables. A tiny little mint tries to wedge itself in but gets drowned out in the heat. All the big glossy trademarks of Paso Robles, which is kinda interesting since I already accidentally noticed on the front label “14.0” and that seems quite low for some of the nuances flowing out. I would have guessed a full point higher.
In the mouth, considerably thinner, and I’m starting to believe that 14-oh. Unfortunately, it is thin to the point the oxidized flabby fruit doesn’t have anywhere fat, rich, and ripe to go to smother the alcoholic burn which overtakes everything mid-palate. Burnt olives and their ground pits smooths out all the fig and prune while pin-pricks of alcohol settle into the crease of your tongue. No tannin. Just watery sweet fruit.
This is not terrible wine. At all. It’s just ripe and boring and lacking complexity. It’s a beautiful little party quaffer or resty-list darling, but it just doesn’t play in the circles of cab I play in.
2015 CLESI Cabernet Sauvignon Paso Robles 14.0
Stephen McConnell 