Wow. This is a ripe, juicy lil bish. Dark ruby–nearly impenetrable density–with decadent lush berry concentration literally gushing from the glass. Stewed pie-filling at near-fruitcake candied-and spiced levels, side-alignments of fresh green alfalfa and dank loam no match for the thick black cherry–a generous layer of oak doing its part to sweeten and plump up the nose.
I don’t know what’s in this thing: and the producer grows and sources a PLETHORA of varieties. I don’t think it’s Cab. I don’t think it’s Syrah. If it’s Grenache, it is a SERIOUS bruiser. It could be Tempranillo, but if it is, it is fleshened up there with some of the top Ribera del Duero or Rioja bling-bottles. Think: Vega or yGay. Temp with Tannat and PV? Maybe some Cab? Oh well, who cares: it’s a BIG BOY. OR girl. Sorry… don’t want to offend anyone. TOO LATE.
Tasting it continues to produce TBO’s and blow your mind. I don’t know what this costs, but his wines are generally quite inexpensive, and this is something you NEED to get your hands on if you like big, beautiful, well-mannered stuff. Crazy juicy in the mouth, a perceived sweetness driven by ridiculous plummy fruit goes *just* over the line of ‘cloying’, but backs off considerably when the acid and tannin hit. PACKED with berry, the oak massaging briar and spice, grapefruit, blood orange and wet leather the whole way, it goes wrackingly dry late-middle and moderate tannins seek balance but that fruit…. And it is shockingly low-alcohol. To be honest it is just a tad “yummy” for my palate. It goes over into Caymus Cab and Suisun-Durif territory–but without the BS chemically and fake fruit-concentrate nuances those wines get asterisks for.
I could sell END CAPS of this stuff. It’s kinda a 99% wine–not gonna lie–but it is SO frickin delicious. This is straight nectar. It will age well in the sub-decade arena, but there’s no way it’s gonna last in your cellar. You’re going to pull this out for everyone that comes over and take it to every party and be a HERO. It will be the first bottle emptied, I PROMISE.
2018 CIRCLE B VINEYARDS ‘Code 4 Cuvee’ Red Blend Paso Robles 13.9
Stephen McConnell 