Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
Easily one of California's top Rieslings, the 2014 Zocker, from the Paragon Vineyard, in the Edna Valley region, exhibits flowers, apples, and some petrol notes. The wine dry to off-dry finish pairs it well with simply prepared shellfish. (Tasted: October 6, 2017, San Francisco, CA)
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Opening with gregarious notes of lime cordial, lemon curd and orange blossoms plus acacia honey and marmalade hints, the 2014 Riesling Paragon Vineyard has an off-dry palate, offering a great intensity of honeyed citrus flavors and a refreshing backbone that finishes long and minerally.
Riesling possesses a remarkable ability to reflect the character of wherever it is grown while still maintaining its identity. A regal variety of incredible purity and precision, this versatile grape can be just as enjoyable dry or sweet, young or old, still or sparkling and can age longer than nearly any other white variety. Somm Secret—Given how difficult it is to discern the level of sweetness in a Riesling from the label, here are some clues to find the dry ones. First, look for the world “trocken.” (“Halbtrocken” or “feinherb” mean off-dry.) Also a higher abv usually indicates a drier Riesling.
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.