This impressive Syrah, Grenache, Mourvedre, and Petite Sirah blend offers delicious, ripe flavors of black cherry, blackberry, and boysenberry highlighted by notes of raspberry. It’s quite nicely balanced by nuances of vanilla and spice from French oak. The Ortman Family recommends enjoying it with such comfort foods as calzones, hamburgers, or leg of lamb. A very good buy, it’s only $24 retail for this exceptional wine, available at their Paso Robles tasting room and online at ortmanvineyards.com.
This article appears in Aug 6-13, 2009.