What's This: Villacana Zinfandel

I forgot to mention that we enjoyed a 2004 Villacana Zinfandel last Saturday night at a buffet party dinner. This was a very nice, medium-bodied zin, having good raspberry fruit with quite light oak influence - a style that I like quite a bit. It reminded me of the good examples of the Primitivo from Hop Kiln.

I know next to nothing of most Paso Robles wineries; is anyone familiar with this producer ?

[Robin Garr]

I forgot to mention that we enjoyed a 2004 Villacana Zinfandel last Saturday night at a buffet party dinner. This was a very nice, medium-bodied zin, having good raspberry fruit with quite light oak influence - a style that I like quite a bit. It reminded me of the good examples of the Primitivo from Hop Kiln.

I know next to nothing of most Paso Robles wineries; is anyone familiar with this producer ?

Jeff, I'm not up on Villacana, and generally I don't think of Zin first when I think of Paso Robles. But Erich Russell is making worthy Zin there at Rabbit Ridge's new location; and I was quite impressed recently with Peachy Canyon 2006 "Incredible Red" Zin blend from Paso.

Villacana bills itself as a "small boutique" winery and apparently opened only in 2002. Here's a link to the winery Website:
http://www.villicanawinery.com/

Jeff, I'm not up on Villacana, and generally I don't think of Zin first when I think of Paso Robles.

What grape(s) do you think of when you think of Paso, Robin? Offhand, to me Zin seems as good a fit to the area as any, though Syrah and Mourvedre may give it a run for its money. Besides Rabbit Ridge and Peachy Canyon, Turley has an outpost there, and Ridge has of course made Paso Zins forever.

Mark Lipton

Robin, Thanks for your note. I hadn't thought to check for a Villacana website. Apparently nearly everyone is online to some extent now.

That thud you heard was when I fell off my chair to see Villicana describe that likeable 2004 "medium-bodied" zin as having something like 15.5% alcohol and being just slightly sweet. It's very funny and humbling since that's not a style that I imagined myself liking.

I am also surprised to see that Rabbit Ridge seems to be no longer in the North Coast (Sonoma county ?). I recall some sort of controversy from there regarding the owner's questionable practices for building or land development. Does anyone know if the winery has changed hands since that time ?

[Robin Garr]

What grape(s) do you think of when you think of Paso, Robin? Offhand, to me Zin seems as good a fit to the area as any, though Syrah and Mourvedre may give it a run for its money. Besides Rabbit Ridge and Peachy Canyon, Turley has an outpost there, and Ridge has of course made Paso Zins forever.

Fair point, Mark. I think I was carelessly lumping Paso into the Central Coast and thinking of my attitude toward the whole region as big Syrah and Syrah-like Pinot, but you're being more analytical than I was. There IS plenty of Zin there.

What grape(s) do you think of when you think of Paso, Robin? Offhand, to me Zin seems as good a fit to the area as any, though Syrah and Mourvedre may give it a run for its money. Besides Rabbit Ridge and Peachy Canyon, Turley has an outpost there, and Ridge has of course made Paso Zins forever.

Fair point, Mark. I think I was carelessly lumping Paso into the Central Coast and thinking of my attitude toward the whole region as big Syrah and Syrah-like Pinot, but you're being more analytical than I was. There IS plenty of Zin there.

Well, I do have (perhaps) the advantage of having visited there fairly recently and visited many of the wineries. And since our son was conceived there, I do take some proprietary interest in the region

Mark Lipton

In defense of Robin, I do believe from an acreage standpoint both Syrah and Zin make up a little more than 18% (both about a little more than 9% each) of the total acreage area in Paso.

Salute

Alex Villacana is making some really nice wines. The winery is in the very cool Adelaida Hills region. Alex and Monica are young and hard-working, and Alex' style is neutral oak, pepper-forward. Another zinmaker in the same seamless, peppery style is Steve at Minassian-Young. Both wineries are small and under-the-radar with limited distribution as far as I know.