2014 Oveja

Owner/winemaker Neil Collins, who is also the winemaker at Tablas Creek, told me that he has finally achieved his goal of working exclusively with fruit from dry-farmed vineyards. Collins believes that grapes from vines growing with irrigation simply can’t match those from unirrigated sites for depth of flavors, balance and complexity, and that now the Lone Madrone wines are “in the place” that he wants them. Collins works with mostly old vines and. As I reported last year, quality here has been ratcheting up quickly in recent years. While in the past I often found the wines to be the rustic side, with tannic structure that demanded aging to soften and integrate, today the Lone Madrone wines show real finesse and harmony of fruit and tannins. Collins is also a talented cider-maker. He recently opened Bristol’s Cider House just down the road, in Atascadero, which offers a constantly revolving selection of choices of his impressive efforts and is well worth visiting if you’re in the area and want a short break from wine.

This year's set of wines from Neil Collins' personal winery--he is the long-time winemaker at Tablas Creek--is the strongest collection I've yet tasted. The wines have always shown very good depth and power but now there's more polish, in a good way, with no loss of personality, much less heft. The consistency across Collins' portfolio has also taken a noticeable step up and I was struck by the wines' vivacity and balance, which I suspect will enable them to age quite well.