Willow Creek

This is a blend of 48% Syrah, 22% Petite Sirah, 17% Grenache, 6% Mourvedre, 4% Tempranillo, and 3% Roussanne.  Wonderful wine that is just entering its prime drinking window.  Inky purple in color, opaque and bright.  The nose is great with black raspberries, black cherries, spice, chocolate and char.  Lovely full bodied, almost seamless texture.  Medium tannins.  On the palate, loads of fruit but plenty of energy to keep it from being burdensome.  Layers of black raspberries, black cherries with underlying gravel and char.  Delicious.  Long finish.  This drinks great on its own and would w

This is a blend of 43% Grenache, 29% Mourvedre, 18% Syrah, and 10% Counoise from Paso Robles.  Purple in color, ruby at the rim, opaque and bright.  The nose has black raspberries, black cherries, minerals, char, slight spice and a bit or candied raspberries.  Full bodied.  Great balance.  Lots of energy.  On the palate, this is delicious.  No sign of the 15.8%abv.  Loads of black cherries, black raspberries with a slight char and plenty of minerality.  Long finish.  This is young but drinking well now.  It will get better though.  Drink over the next twenty years.  Great on its own, it nee

This is a blend of 46% Grenache Blanc, 31% Roussanne, and 23% Chenin Blanc from the great James Berry vineyard in Paso Robles.  What a delicious wine!  Light golden in color, clear and bright.  The nose is great with honey, orange peel, minerals, quince and slight wild thyme note.  Full bodied.  Slightly oily texture.  On the palate, this is nuanced and complex.  Great balance.  Orange citrus, quince with slight honey and lots of minerality.  Long finish.  This is still young but could probably go another ten years and gain in complexity what it loses in vibrancy.  Still, if you just have o

This is a blend of 92% Syrah, 6% Mourvedre, and 2% Viognier.  Inky purple in color, opaque and bright.  The nose is great with black raspberries, blueberries, black pepper, chocolate and roasted meat.  Full bodied.  Medium tannins.  Nice acidity.  On the palate, this is delicious.  Lots of black raspberries with some blueberries over a bit of roasted meat (more char).  Long finish.  Drinking nicely if not fully mature.  Drink over the next ten to fifteen years.  Great on its own, this needs bigger food.  It would work well with Prime Rib.

This is a blend of 34% Cabernet Sauvignon, 33% Syrah, 19% Tannat, and 4% Grenache.  Inky purple in color, opaque and bright.  The nose has black raspberries, black pepper, blueberries, spice and slight black cherries.  Full bodied.  Medium tannins.  Good acidity.  On the palate, this is delicious.  Tight but deep.  Blueberries, raspberries, with some cedar and spice.  Long finish.  This is a big wine but it is deft as well.  Drink over the next twelve to fifteen years.  This is great on its own and will need big food to stand up to it.  A nice match would be spicy Indian foods.  

Inky purple in color, opaque and bright.  This is a blend of 43% Grenache, 43% Syrah and 14% Mataro.  It comes in at 15.6% abv, but it is not noticeable on the wine.  Inky purple in color, opaque and bright.  There is a bit of volatile acidity on the nose but it was not bothersome.  Lots of black cherry fruit with black raspberries and white pepper.  Strong acidity.  On the palate, black cherries, and some black raspberries.  Complex and deep.  Long finish.  This is drinking well now and should continue for another ten to fifteen years.  Great on its own, this would be nice with ribs off th

This is a blend of 56% Grenache, 13% Petite Sirah, 10% Syrah, 9% Mataro, 7% Zinfandel and 5% Tempranillo.  The bottle lists 15.7% abv but it is not noticeable on the wine.  Inky purple in color, opaque and bright.  The nose is great with black cherries, black raspberries, gravel, and black pepper.  Great backbone of acidity.  On the palate, though young, this is showing a nice complexity.  Medium tannins.  Black cherries and black raspberries with underlying char and gravel.  Long finish.  Delicious.  This may still improve a bit but is drinking great now and should continue for another twe

This is 100% Grenache made only in selected vintages.  The bottle lists 16.4% abv but there is no heat.  Purple in color, mostly opaque and bright.  The nose is explosive with black raspberries, black cherries, char and slight gun powder notes.  Full bodied.  Light tannins.  Great texture.  On the palate, this is deep and complex.  Black raspberries, roasted herbs and slight black cherries.  Long finish.  Delicious.  This is still drinking youthfully and should drink well for another ten to fifteen years.  Great on its own, this would work nicely with roasted fowl.  

This is a blend of 55% Grenache, 24% Mourvèdre, 13% Syrah, and 8% Counoise.  No doubt in a few years this merits a 100 score.  Right now, it is very young, and although amazing, it needs time to come together.  Inky purple in color, mostly opaque and bright.  The nose has black raspberries, black cherries, black pepper, and floral notes.  Full bodied.  This wine is a bruiser!  Medium tannins.  Great balance.  On the palate, gobs of black raspberries, black cherries with some black pepper and nice underlying minerality.  Long finish.  No harm drinking now but another five years of cellaring

This is 95% Syrah and 5% Grenache and drinking beautifully.  Inky purple in color, opaque and bright.  The nose has black raspberries, black pepper, and roasted meats and herbs.  Full bodied.  Good acidity.  On the palate, this is delicious.  Deep but the layers unwind in the glass.  Probably not quite at peak but getting close.  Medium tannins.  Long finish.  This should continue to drink well for another twelve to fifteen years.  Great on its own, this would work great with roasted veggies off the grill.