2016 Ledge Vineyards James Berry Vineyard Red Blend

Ledge’s debut vintage was a 2009 Syrah, but its history goes back to the 1970s, when Mark Adams’ parents bought 40 acres in Templeton, south of the city of Paso Robles, to raise cattle. Adams grew up on the ranch and one of his childhood friends was Justin Smith, now the award-winning winemaker at Saxum Vineyards. Adams worked at James Berry Vineyard and Saxum before returning to the family property in 2003 to start his own label. He soon started planting vineyards of Syrah, Grenache and Mourvedre, leading to his first Ledge harvest in 2009. Ledge makes Rhone-style wines, and they’ve won accolades since their first vintages. Wine Advocate’s Jeb Dunnuck has called Ledge “an upcoming estate I’ve been raving about for years now…Mark likes plenty of whole cluster, and isn’t afraid of a touch of funk either. His wines always show lots of character and are highly recommended.”

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.