Winemaker Notes
The 2019 Chasing Windmills shows the plushness and abundance of sweet fruit that you come to expect from Grenache-based wines from Paso Robles. This is seamless from front to back with a tremendous mid-palate richness and density to it. Packed with loads of blue and black fruits like blueberries, blackberries, and black currants with hints of cumin, mint, and cedar. This wine is extremely approachable now with an hour of air or so but should sail for several years in the cellar.
Professional Ratings
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2019 TOR Chasing Windmills is an authentic Rhone-style red blend from Paso Robles. TASTING NOTES: This wine exhibits aromas and flavors of earthy notes, rustic spices, ripe blackberries, and oak. Try it with a slow-cooked lamb stew. (Tasted: May 11, 2023, San Francisco, CA)
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
A new wine, the 2019 Chasing Windmills Fulldraw Vineyard was made and bottled in Paso Robles. A blend of 59% Syrah and 41% Grenache, aged in 20% new French oak (mainly puncheons), it offers up scents of asphalt, crushed stone, black olives, ripe cherries and espresso. Full-bodied and not particularly tannic, it's supple across the palate, then tart and mouthwatering on the finish.
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.