Gritty, grainy, and gorgeous, this robust elixir never takes a breath: expanding and becoming more complex with each swirl. Lush tropical floral sits atop metallic Bordeaux spice, peach-pit and gob-stopping blackberry dazzle. The berry explodes with apricot and newsprint, the dirrrty, earthy shell whittled away at by tireless fruit concentration. It was a bit closed-in to begin with and decanting seemed obligatory.
When I taste wines like this, I’m always trying to find the *Paso* contained there-in. Yes, it’s ‘guilty until proven innocent’ with me and I am unapologetic. Here, the amount of pure briar and grainy minerality do not evoke classic Paso chubbiness, heat or un-due massiveness. Oh, it’s BIG–don’t get me wrong–but I think this grape does SO WELL up there–especially on the east-side (paso-bro just had a coronary)–and this wine is place, check, and call for that argument. Pithy and wiry, tomato-vine vegetal whittled down into BDX-style levels, the berry a black carbon slate of peppery anger, the tannin dialed in to ridiculous levels of cat’s-tongue velvet: nearly obscuring the fruit in various places. It’s REALLY a big wine though, and I shudder to guess the ABV. I’m gonna go with 15-5, but man-oh-man is this a pretty wine. I honestly think this wine could go for 20 years.
2018 BROKEN EARTH ‘Reserve’ Cabernet Franc Estate Paso Robles 15.7
Stephen McConnell 