Winemaker Notes
This 2019 Côtes-du-Rôbles is the perfect example of how delicious a red Rhône blend from Paso Robles can be. At first sip, you taste berries, strawberries, blackberries, and raspberries. However, upon further investigation, your nose and palate pick up delicate hints of rose petals, violets, dried herbs, with a touch of spice. A great bistro wine that has complexity and balance, with enough body to be enjoyed with food, but also light enough to be enjoyed all by itself.
This well-balanced red wine with its bright acid and fruit flavors would pair well with a lamb burger with feta cheese and a cilantro sauce, Chilean sea bass with a cherry tomato butter sauce, a mushroom burger with plenty of Gruyere, or a bowl of hearty beef chili.
Blend: 60% Grenache, 20% Syrah, 18% Mourvedre, 2% Durif
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Elegant aromas of baked and blistered plums meet with savory salts and dried red fruit on the nose of this blend of 60% Grenache, 20% Syrah, 18% Mourvèdre and 2% Durif. The dusty palate combines dried cherry with lots of herbs and a brick-like minerality.
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.