Winemaker Notes
Paragon Vineyard is sustainably farmed and sits on a west facing slope just a couple miles inland from the Pacific Ocean; it grows on a soil structure of marl, quartz, and limestone. It exhibits green fruit flavors such as cucumber, green papaya, and celery salt. On the front pallet it shows its tremendous acidity but finishes with more of an oily texture. The lower alcohol and bracing acidity make this Grüner Veltliner a great Spring and Summer sipper.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
There's a ton of earthy stone cast across the nose of this bottling, from wet slate to freshly poured concrete to holes of muddy gray clay. The palate continues that vibe with ash and gravel flavors but there's also pluot flesh, grass and a grippy texture to carry it into the finish.
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Vinous
The 2022 Grüner Veltliner Paragon is laced with hints of pear, white flowers, sage, spice and chamomile. In this vintage, the Paragon offers notable textural presence and plenty of character. There's a touch of reduction, but it blows off with air. This almost feels like Chenin. I especially admire its brightness, all of which it retained a day after I first tasted it.
Fun to say and delightfully easy to drink, Grüner Veltliner calls Austria its homeland. While some easily quaffable Grüners come in a one-liter—a convenient size—many high caliber single vineyard bottlings can benefit from cellar aging. Somm Secret—About 75% of the world’s Grüner Veltliner comes from Austria but the variety is gaining ground in other countries, namely Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and the United States.
California’s coolest wine growing area, Edna Valley excels in the production of high quality Central Coast wines like Pinot noir, Chardonnay, Rhône Blends and aromatic white wines. It has a cool Mediterranean climate and an incredibly long growing season, giving late-ripening varieties plenty of opportunity to develop great phenolic complexity.
Its northwest to southeast orientation creates a direct path for cool Pacific air and fog to penetrate the valley from the Los Osos and Morro Bay area inwards. Low hillsides of both calcareous and volcanic soils are home to much of the vineyard acreage of the Edna Valley.