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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