Paso Robles Can’t Stop Winning

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, 2017 yielded yet another exceptional harvest for Paso Robles. It’s the latest in a stretch of outstanding vintages that extends, unbroken, back to 2011, which was by no means a truly bad year. The best wines deftly combine richness and energy, with a balance of fruit and structure that is compelling.

Other than the not-insignificant issue of a series of short crops due to relentless drought conditions, growers and producers in Paso Robles have had little to complain about for most of the last decade. That’s definitely been the case with the health and quality of the fruit since 2012 – pretty much across the board.

Grenache makes up the base of many of the best and most expressive wines from Paso Robles.

2017: Fortune Favors the Brave or the Crazy

With the 2017s now comfortably in bottle, it’s apparent that Paso Robles has yet another outstanding vintage on deck. Courtesy of abundant rainfall in the winter that straddled 2016 and 2017 (the only vintage with more rain in the last 20 years was 2004/2005), groundwater levels were more-than-adequate to handle the hot, dry spring and summer that followed, including the brutal statewide heat spike of August. This was especially critical for conscientious producers who prefer, or are obliged, to work with dry-farmed sites.

Such was the severity of that August heat wave that many growers began picking grapes soon after it hit, out of fear that by the time it broke, the grapes would be in full raisin mode. But the gutsier (or crazier) producers chose to ride it out. That proved to be a smart move, as the weather cooled off quickly and stayed clement through September and into mid-October. There was plenty of time for growers to drop out any dried-out grapes before harvesting, and the resulting wines were made from fruit that attained, and showed, true phenolic ripeness, with a proper balance of acidity, pH and tannins. Unsurprisingly, the top producers in the region made the right call, which proves once again why they sit where they do atop the Paso hierarchy. “No guts, no glory and definitely some not-so-great fruit,” as one producer quipped.