2009 The Banshee

Torrin is a small, emerging property that was essentially carved out of the Booker Vineyard. Proprietor Scott Hawley embodies all of the passion and enthusiasm shared by Paso's young winemakers. Hawley describes 2010 and 2011 as the coldest years he has seen. The 2010s were brought in just before the rains in late October. The Torrin wines are on the richer, bolder side for Paso Robles. Hawley likes to pick fairly late and ripe. The wines are made with native yeasts and treated fairly minimally in the cellar. At times, the alcohol comes through, which blurs varietal notes and the signatures of this site. Still, my sense is that Torrin is one of the Paso wineries with the most unrealized potential. The sky is the limit.

Scott Hawley's 2009 releases continue the theme of dense, full-throttle wines, which he told me "is what the grapes here give." But I also sensed a more refined character in the new wines this fall. And that's from a low-yielding vintage, most of whose wines show more concentration than normal. As his own vines mature, said Hawley, "they're giving more complexity, so we're seeing more than just brute force in the wines." He described the '09 vintage at his vineyard as "plenty ripe, even by Paso standards, but cool nights kept things from getting out of control." He told me that he has never had to add acid to his wines and that while his '09s "show a lot of the sexiness of 2008, they have more structure and really good freshness, which will enable them to age well."