2012 Pax James Berry Vineyard

Pax Wine Cellars was founded in 2000 by Pax Mahle, a self-trained winemaker, and Joe Donelan, an investor and wine collector who owned 55% of Pax Wine Cellars. The Sonoma County winery became a cult producer of single-vineyard Syrahs. But in 2008 the founders had a falling out, and Pax Mahle left the company. Mahle went on to found Wind Gap Wines, and Donelan changed the name of Pax Wine Cellars to Donelan. Donelan makes Syrah, Viognier, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and a Rhone-style blend of Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre.

Central Coast AVA is a huge wine producing area that extends from Santa Barbara County in the south to San Francisco in the north. With more than 100,000 vineyard acres, it includes parts of six counties near the Pacific Ocean. Nearly 20 smaller AVAs lie within the Central Coast AVA. Central Coast earned appellation status in 1985. Included in the appellation are parts of the counties of Contra Costa, Monterey, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz. Nearly every grape varietal grown in California is grown somewhere in the Central Coast AVA, though Chardonnay accounts for nearly 50% of the entire wine grape crop.