2004 Justin Vineyards Reserve Tempranillo

Justin Vineyards is a 160-acre estate in Paso Robles, on California’s Central Coast. It was founded in 1981 by Justin Baldwin, a former investment and international banker. The winery’s flagship wines are two Bordeaux-style blends. One is a “left bank” style blend of Cabernet Sauvignon with smaller amounts of Merlot and Cab Franc that the winery calls Isosceles. The other is a “right bank” style blend of primarily Merlot with some Cabernet Franc, called Justification. The winery has also made Syrah, Tempranillo and white wines.

Paso Robles AVA is midway between San Francisco and Los Angeles, and it is considered one of the West Coast’s most exciting winemaking regions. With its hot, sometimes searingly dry and sunny weather, it is especially good country for growing warm climate grapes such as Syrah, Grenache and Mourvedre. Because many Paso Robles wineries have been successful with blending these grapes into Rhone Valley-style wines, it is known as the Rhone zone of California. The AVA was created in 1983 and there are 32,000 vineyard acres. In late 2014 the AVA was divided into 11 smaller sub-appellations, so starting with 2015 vintages labeling will become more specific on Paso Robles wines, which will now also list sub-appellations. Located in San Luis Obispo County, Paso Robles, the town and its surrounding area, was traditionally a farming and ranching region. But from a few dozen wineries in the early 1990s to more than 200 today, the area is quickly becoming known for wine and risk-taking winemakers.

Think leather and cherries together for Tempranillo wines. This wine looks lighter than it is. It can be medium or full bodied, but its thin-skinned, big grapes, give it a more transparent appearance. It is grown in Spain, Portugal, the U.S. and Australia.