Paso Robles 2021: Vintage report and top 30 wines

After a challenging 2020 vintage, 2021 arrived in this key region in California’s Central Coast with near-perfect conditions, though with lower than ideal yields. Where successful, the best examples showed power and balance with acidity as a welcome foil.

Jason Haas, proprietor at Tablas Creek Vineyard, calls 2021 in Paso Robles ‘the recipe for a really great, blockbuster-style vintage’ and ‘as you would if you could design a vintage from scratch’.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for 30 standout Paso Robles 2021 wines

For many, bud break in 2021 was earlier than normal, there were no major heat spikes, and it was a relatively long growing season and ripening cycle, because the beginning of the season was so early.

Harvest was slightly early to average for most, with almost everyone I spoke to commenting on the lower-than-normal yields brought on by water stress caused by drought. The result was smaller berry size, smaller clusters, and therefore a smaller crop. One exception to this was Alta Colina in the Adelaida District AVA (American Viticultural Area), which achieved average to slightly above-average yields in 2021.

Winemaker Molly Lonborg (below) said: ‘It was a low yield vintage overall in the region, but with their 20-year-old vineyard, [owners] the Tillman family has been working hard to identify areas that are underproducing and remediate those things, including cutting back diseased wood and laying down new vine canes.’

Dealing with drought

Established in 1983, Paso Robles, meaning ‘pass of the oaks’ in Spanish, is a region with 16,500ha under vine, making it a sizable player in California [by comparison, Napa Valley Vintners records the planted area for the whole of Napa Valley, further north, at about 18,600ha]. Significant temperature variances ranging from 2°-10°C in a day allow the grapes to refresh at night and retain acidity. The growing season is extended due to these diurnal swings. That, coupled with regular late rains, allows grapes in the region to benefit from more hang time, resulting in wines with mature, ripe fruit characters as well as strong acidity.

In 2021, most of the 11 sub-AVA districts in the Paso Robles region were in year two of drought, with the bulk of the season’s rain falling in a single late-winter storm. Drought can be both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, drier years lead to less leaf growth and small grapes with more concentration, higher skin-to-juice ratio, and thus a higher concentration of phenolic compounds, all conducive to winemaking. On the other, the yields are low, and winemakers are left wishing they had more fruit.

Stephan Asseo of L’Aventure Winery says of his limestone soils in the context of drought: ‘Limestone is like a big sponge and is able to absorb all the moisture from the winter. We have a better ability to resist drought than those with better-draining soils.’

Being in the second year of drought is desirable, as vines are under a fair amount of stress but not excessively stressed, following a first year in which they were already restricted in their resources and thus gave lower crops. But in year two, vines are not so deep in the drought cycle that they start to shut down development altogether.

‘The wines are fresh, bright and focused in style, but with a richness’, comments Justin Smith of Saxum – that richness resulting from the small drought-affected berries. ‘I admit I was ever so slightly underwhelmed when I tasted the wines in barrel in the beginning,’ he continues, ‘but they’re really growing on me.’ Smith describes 2021 as ‘a sleeper vintage’. Aron Nevarez, vineyard manager and head viticulturist for prized brands such as Denner and McPrice Myers, is similarly enthusiastic about the vintage’s potential: ‘Out of the past seven vintages, 2021 is one of my favourite years.’

Paso Robles: know your vintages

2020: 3/5

A difficult vintage from all sides, including drought, dramatic heat spikes and smoke from nearby wildfires, coupled with pandemic-related stressors, including face masks. Widely mixed quality, depending on the producer. Not all producers made wine due to smoke taint or potential smoke taint issues from wildfires.

2019: 5/5

An excellent vintage on all accounts. The 2019 growing season and the harvest were ‘perfect’, with many reports of it being ‘one of the best’ and ‘favourite’ vintages in recent history. The wines are dense, structured, powerful and will be very long-lived.

2018: 4.5/5

A desirable, long growing season crafting wines that are classic, structured and intense in fruit. Wines with firm tannins and ageing potential. A strong, powerhouse vintage.

2017: 4/5

A hot and wet vintage with record- setting rain in January. A warm summer with a late August heat spike that slowed maturing, causing a later start to harvest for many. The wines are drinkable earlier with freshness and lifted fruit.

See the Paso Robles 2021 score table

Pick of the sub-AVAs in 2021

Almost 10 years ago, 11 nested AVAs within the greater Paso Robles AVA were approved for use on labels. Conjunctive labelling laws, which have seen success in Napa Valley, require ‘Paso Robles’ to be used on a label whenever a sub-AVA is also listed.

The western Paso regions seem to run ahead of the pack, with many quality producers residing in that area. These areas can be slightly cooler, wetter and windier than their eastern neighbours, and see the marine fog from the coastal influences. The wines from these areas tend to show higher acidity, a key piece of the quality puzzle in Paso to balance the fruit concentration, tannins and alcohol levels that can result from the high temperatures.

Adelaida

Home of top-quality Paso wine, Adelaida is the westernmost of the sub-districts and closest to the Pacific ocean. At its closest point, Adelaida lies just less than 10km from the coast, with the Santa Lucia Range mountains in between the two. The average rainfall in Adelaida is generally the highest in the Paso region, at 635mm per year, and in 2021 the bulk of the rain came from one late-winter storm.

Tablas Creek reported 330mm of rainfall that year, with 300mm coming from that one storm. The Adelaida district boasts the highest elevation in Paso, up to 670m. Says Molly Lonborg at Alta Colina: ‘Because of our high elevation, we have a lot of high-intensity fruit, a lot of colour and a lot of tannin.’ Soils are limestone dominant with water-retaining properties and give the ability to retain freshness and acidity in the wines.

Willow Creek

Just south of Adelaida lies Willow Creek, a high rainfall, high elevation sub-district with similar properties. J Dusi Wines, a legacy Paso producer, has been farming the Paper Street vineyard, which straddles Adelaida and Willow Creek, for close to 10 years. The vineyard is planted to head-trained Zinfandel with cuttings from the Dusis’ century-old Dusi vineyard.

‘It’s tasting great. I’m really enjoying the fruit aspect that’s coming out of it – almost like a darker, shadowy fruit, yet bright,’ says Janell Dusi, owner-winemaker at J Dusi. ‘Because of the drought, the fruit is front and centre and focused.’ As in the Paso region as a whole, drought and coolness were the biggest factors of the 2021 vintage. ‘Cool’ is a relative term in Paso, referring to no major or extended heat spikes, as were seen in 2020 (two weeks or more of temperatures above 40°C).

Templeton Gap

The coolest sub-district in Paso, defined by a ‘gap’ in the hills, allows cold marine fog from the Pacific, dubbed the ‘fog monster’, to penetrate and push into the region. Between the Pacific ocean and the region of Paso Robles lie the Santa Lucia mountains which, apart from the Templeton Gap, prevent the cool maritime winds and fog from reaching the wine region.

The downside to the high winds is that ‘shatter’ or coulure can plague the vineyard. Shatter is a specific, short window during flowering in which the flowers do not pollinate, causing grape clusters not to fully mature. Both Aron Nevarez (Denner, McPrice Myers) and Janell Dusi saw this in 2021 in their Templeton Gap vineyards due to higher- than-normal winds. Extended hot temperatures can also cause shatter.

York Mountain

York Mountain is a separate AVA within San Luis Obispo County that abuts the western edge of Paso Robles. Established in 1983 and one of the smallest AVAs in California at 2,600ha, it is cooler, wetter and foggier than the AVAs of Paso because the Santa Lucia Range does not protect it as much from the oceanic influences.

York Mountain soils are predominantly well-draining, heat-retaining sandstone rather than limestone, a good combination for this cool and wet area, which boasts 30%-50% more rainfall than Paso. Jordan Fiorentini of Epoch Estate calls 2021 ‘a winemaker’s vintage where we could wait to pick the fruit until we felt it was time, without too many climatic factors getting in the way’.

See all Paso Robles 2021 wines tasted

Paso Robles 2021: Cohen’s picks

Star rating: 4.5/5

Key producers: 

L’Aventure

Saxum

Tablas Creek Vineyard

Value picks:

Tablas Creek, Patelin de Tablas Blanc (£28-£29.50 Shelved Wine, Vinoteca)

Giornata, Rosso ($25 giornatawines.com)

Thacher, Own-Rooted Chenin Blanc ($36 thacherwinery.com)

Wines of the vintage:

White Tablas Creek, Esprit de Tablas Blanc 94pts

Red Saxum, James Berry Vineyard 96pts

Paso Robles 2021: 30 standout wines

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