Winemaker Notes
62% Grenache Blanc, 20% Roussanne, 11% Viognier, 7% Picpoul
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Ripe peach, honeyed citrus, salty minerality, and white flower notes all emerge from the 2017 Willow White, a beautifully textured, layered, balanced white. I'd drink it over the coming 3-5 years, but I wouldn't be surprised to see it evolve longer. The blend is 62% Grenache Blanc, 20% Roussanne, 11% Viognier, and 7% Picpoul, aged 15 months in 40% new French oak.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2017 Willow White is a blend of 62% Grenache Blanc, 20% Roussanne, 11% Viognier and 7% Picpoul, aged 18 months in 40% new oak. It has a pretty, floral-laced nose with orange blossom, musk, toast, honey and almonds over a quince and golden apple core. The light to medium-bodied palate walks a pretty line between bright freshness and savory bass tones, finishing long and lifted.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The enticing group of blended whites, made from Rhône grape varieties has been around decades, and they remain under the periscope of most consumers. While wine drinkers know of these wines, many have not reached out for them. The 2017 Turtle Rock Willow White is an impressive representative of this genre. TASTING NOTES: This wine is lovely and aromatic. Its aromas and flavors of ripe fruit, chalky minerality, and earth should make an excellent pairing with Chinese chicken salad with toasted sesame seeds, celery, and pickled scallions. (Tasted: April 29, 2019, San Francisco, CA)
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Wine Spectator
Charming, offering a memorable, fragrant mix of marmalade, clove, apricot and peach cobbler flavors, spicy and generous, set on a medium frame, with fresh acidity. Finishes with notes of roasted almond. Grenache Blanc, Roussanne, Viognier and Picpoul. Drink now.
Full-bodied and flavorful, white Rhône blends originate from France’s Rhône Valley. Today these blends are also becoming popular in other regions. Typically some combination of Grenache Blanc, Marsanne, Roussanne and Viognier form the basis of a white Rhône blend with varying degrees of flexibility depending on the exact appellation. Somm Secret—In the Northern Rhône, blends of Marsanne and Roussanne are common but the south retains more variety. Marsanne, Roussanne as well as Bourboulenc, Clairette, Picpoul and Ugni Blanc are typical.
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.