An extravagant, expressive version of California Temp. Models aligning with Ribera del Duero or Rueda could seldom be found. Ripe and flowery, the oak nudging everything along in glorious fashion, perfect bits of funk in the nose: stellar cellar-floor combined with amazing rich berry carrying everything along. Then you taste it.
Oh how I love Tempranillo. The early appeal it offers while grinding beautiful astringency and ridiculous structure along the way is second-to-none. This one shows characteristic amounts of tapanade and shrubbery early on the palate, while combining everything with fruit so amazingly dense and concentrated the words pause. Bright, dense ruby with purple-blue youth at the rim, it begs for another decade of cellar age AND YET: drinking it now expresses all things you want to see in a wine. Sweet and laden with cinnamon and spice, austerity a thing of middle-past-times and alcoholic burn mild and unassuming. THESE are the wines we want from Paso. So cold. So restrained. So lovely while still pumping out that ripeness. FIND IT.
2018 RED SOLES WINERY Tempranillo Miracle Ranch Willow Creek Dist. Paso Robles 15.1
Stephen McConnell 