Winemaker Notes
Soft and approachable with dark cherry and vanilla aromas, coupled with blueberries and crushed black pepper on the palate. Each component of the blend seems to fit together like the perfect puzzle piece. Oublié is traditionally one of Booker's most food-friendly wines and should pair well with most dishes.
Blend: 38% Grenache, 35% Mourvèdre, 27% Syrah
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Starting with the Oublie cuvée, this is the GSM blend from the estate that’s more Grenache-dominated. The 2018 Oublie checks in as 40% Grenache and 30% each of Syrah and Mourvèdre brought up in a mix of new and used French oak. Its vivid purple hue is followed by a gorgeous perfume of sweet black raspberries, white flowers, candied orange, and violets. This beauty is rich, full-bodied, and concentrated, yet has incredible purity of fruit, silky tannins, and an incredible sense of freshness. It makes you salivate on the finish and is already impossible to resist.
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Wine Spectator
Broad-shouldered and deeply structured, with floral blueberry and raspberry flavors that are laced with lavender, bitter chocolate and crushed stone. The tannins tighten the finish. Hands off for now. Grenache, Mourvèdre and Syrah.
With bold fruit flavors and accents of sweet spice, Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre form the base of the classic Rhône Red Blend, while Carignan, Cinsault and Counoise often come in to play. Though they originated from France’s southern Rhône Valley, with some creative interpretation, Rhône blends have also become popular in other countries. Somm Secret—Putting their own local spin on the Rhône Red Blend, those from Priorat often include Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. In California, it is not uncommon to see Petite Sirah make an appearance.
Paso Robles has made a name for itself as a source of supple, powerful, fruit-driven Central Coast wines. But with eleven smaller sub-AVAs, there is actually quite a bit of diversity to be found in this inland portion of California’s Central Coast.
Just east over the Santa Lucia Mountains from the chilly Pacific Ocean, lie the coolest in the region: Adelaida, Templeton Gap and (Paso Robles) Willow Creek Districts, as well as York Mountain AVA and Santa Margarita Ranch. These all experience more ocean fog, wind and precipitation compared to the rest of the Paso sub-appellations. The San Miguel, (Paso Robles) Estrella, (Paso Robles) Geneso, (Paso Robles) Highlands, El Pomar and Creston Districts, along with San Juan Creek, are the hotter, more western appellations of the greater Paso Robles AVA.
This is mostly red wine country, with Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel standing out as the star performers. Other popular varieties include Merlot, Petite Sirah, Petit Verdot, Syrah, Grenache and Rhône blends, both red and white. There is a fairly uniform tendency here towards wines that are unapologetically bold and opulently fruit-driven, albeit with a surprising amount of acidity thanks to the region’s chilly nighttime temperatures.