Reds – Paso Robles Wine

Grey Wolf

One nice thing about small, nearly non-commercial winery’s, is the amount of attention they give their customers however I fear that without fresh staff the family staff of winery’s often grow tired or the winemaking process or at least the process of selling their hard labor. Grey Wolf winery is nice and small, I’m sure that they do plenty of business, but the tasting room is really a converted small home with a very nice patio with a east looking view in west Paso Robles area. This is a dog friendly winery so long as the dog is friendly to other dogs, make sure out of respect, to keep your dog leashed.

I was told to taste wine at this winery by another person who found the wine delectable. I am often trying to make sure that my taste aren’t limited to the much more commercial winery’s so I thought that this would be a great place to try as the one winery that I would try on my way through Paso Robles this time.

For those that don’t know a whole lot about wine, such as myself, I very much appreciate the names of wines remaining much the same between vineyards and winery’s. When I’m having a Zin it would be nice if the wine was labeled zin. My preferences aside though a unique name with a unique taste makes the wine memorable allowing more memory of the wine and name recognition.

Wines Tasted

“The River” 2011 – 56% Grenache Blanc, 44% Viognier – Over all I was excited about this wine since I have recently found that I like Viognier in a more pure form, this wine however did dissapoint a little as the taste didn’t end up as I had expected. The wine though was nice and dry, if you like a good dry taste with a little bit of sweet this may be a good wine for you.

“Pretty Girl Pink” – To me had a very white zin type of taste, also though very dry.

“Zinful Cab” 2011 – 60% Zin, 40% Cab – This was a very nice wine and one of the closest in tastes that I have had to the Chumia Barbara, I will probably always be comparing a good red to the Chumia Barbara as it was honestly the best glass of red that I had ever had and hope to find a near exact replacement as soon as the style of the Barbara comes back into style. This wine “Zinful Cab” I’m sure was meant to sound like “Sinful Cab” as it is a Cabrinet with an almost sinful taste, I would suppose. The wine itself would be great with a red meat, as many red wines are, however it would also be a good wine to have with a good cigar or around a billiard table.

“Kashmir” 2010 – 100% Syrah – Caliza Vineyard Woody and nice. Great Syrah would come back for this wine as well to take a bottle for a great rich dinner, and may also go well with a desert rich in flavor.

“Watch Tower” 2010 – 65% Syrah 35% Grenache Blanc – Much more smooth than the Kashmir more woody taste than the Kashmir as well, I can see this being a great taste with a smoked meat. After tasting the “Watch Tower” I would have to recommend it and its taste over the Kashmir, bearing in mind that it is a different blend.

“Lineage” 2010 – 60% Cabrnet Sauvignon, 15% Carmenere, 15% Malbec, 5% Merlot, 5% Cab Franc. – Good bouquet, good front pallet, and an amazing finish. Good dark red wine perfect with a steak or curry type of meal. I feel however that this wine needs to wait a year and it’s for that reason that I purchased a bottle and have shelved it until next year.

Banter amongst the staff in the tasting room wasn’t to my tastes, they were talking about the people coming to taste. How drunk they were, or how they would send a scout in to test the waters of the tasting room before bringing the whole group in. The would do this with the other staff right in front of the other patrons tasting their wine. I prefer to be in an environment that’s not talking about other patrons, maybe the weather, maybe the wine but definitely not the other patrons.

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Niner July 2013

When picking up a shipment it’s always good to taste the wines that you are taking home just in case you want to take an extra bottle home to share with someone that you know or have an extra bottle that you know you will enjoy again. Luckily we are able to taste from the light through the dark wines.

The only thing negative that I have to say about the experience picking up this shipment was the fact that we needed to find a time that was much more quiet as the winery was super busy, being a July 4th weekend and all I’m sure didn’t help. Niner was hosting live music, which was great for background but

This shipment opened with Albarino. Turned out to be a very citrusy wine full of tropical notes with a very pinapple type taste. From one of their local vinyards in __ It is a white with a very white type taste, more notes of taste than the sauvigon blanc read for any light fish meal accented with tomatos or other subtle spices.

Second was Grenache Rose, with some good rose color to it very taste forward wine with dry taste and very taste forward. Finish is nice and light this would be best with a good strong fish rather than a fish with subtile fravor. Might also be good with

2010 Super Paso, Primarily Sangiovese and Malbec. Good thick smell full of good sweet notes, however on taste you a greated with a very nice taste full of oak and tannen that continues to finish as great as it starts, without any after taste that leeds you to either want to stop drinking it or follow it up with another swollow for any reason other than it’s great taste. Great for any lean meet that has been cooked with bellpepers and squash.

2010 Syrah, should have some notes of smoked cloves in it, was what I was told on the opening of the bottle and poor into my glass. The build of the tastes always does well for the winery, wanting to build the taste to something more really than it usually is. The boquet in the glass was very enjoyable however the finish on the wine was more than I wanted to taste, this will be a great wine for a good meat served with sauted mushrooms and some sort of cheese. It’s pepper type finish is subtile but there.

Remembering how great the Twisted Spur was in the fall shipment last year we asked if we could taste the 2009 Twisted Spur, we were not at all dissapointed with the taste. Being much more enjoyable than the 2010 Syrah in our opinion. Though the finish was a lot more taste than the Syrah it was much more enjoyable.

So far as other good food pairings have a look here, a list of items and recipes Niner has had published over the last number of Years.

An Unfortunate Recomendation

Perhaps I will check next time before making a recommendation. I was asked recently to recommend a wine to someone who really doesn’t like wine and with recent experience my first thought was of Chumeia Winery, a weird name for a great and friendly winery, unfortunately this review is going to come to late to save the winery. Best red wine, if you had asked before their closing, in the Paso Robles area according to me was the Barbera both 2006 and 2007 years from Chumia Winery.

The person who I gave the recommendation to proceeded to drive the 2+ hours from their home to the winery in hopes of getting a bottle of this wine to share with a friend of theirs who is somewhat a wine snob. That didn’t work out due to their unfortunate closing, I don’t know what bottle or where they ended up going but info hope that it worked out and that good times were had around the dinner table.

There’s no real way to tell if a place will close before you are able to get backs high is one of the reasons that I taste the wine while I’m there that way I can take home a bottle or two of my favorites to enjoy while it lasts. If I have the opportunity to get back all the better but don’t ever count on having more of a specific year without having that specific wine and year on hand, something that a casual drinker would never really do since even opening a bottle of wine is a rarity.

Bottles opened this weekend 4/27/2013

When you can’t decide which wines you want to open, open two instead. This would only apply if you are in a group of people that may accept more than one wine as a rule. For just me it’s one bottle of wine at a time due to the fact that it takes me nearly a week of half a glass at a time to finish a bottle of wine and the last thing that I want is wine going sour while trying to enjoy it.

The first a 2009 Niner Wine Estates Petite Sarah was made to go with a lean piece of meat, in this instance a Santa Maria Tri-tip from a local market near Pioneer, Ca. As a side note I will at some point be exploring the wines near Pioneer, Ca as I hear there are a number of really great white wines available in the area. If you are looking to make a trip to someplace outside of the Central California Coast and would like to visit the Pioneer area I would suggest a stay in Volcano at St. George Hotel, it’s a great place and really isn’t to far from Lake Tahoe if you’re just passing through on your way to ski Lake Tahoe or enjoy the Casino’s there.

The Sauvignon Blanc was equally impressive with a very fruity dry taste. It was almost sweet enough to be enjoyed as a desert wine, in fact I didn’t have any of this wine until I was into my fresh Central California Strawberries that were served as a side to the tri-tip mentioned before. I can’t wait to see what else Niner has to offer with their spring shipment of wine for the club members.