A fantastic opportunity and a love for Rhône style red wines led to this new red blend from Paso Robles. The 2019 Charger opens with an intense nose of kirsch liqueur, blackberries and ground pepper. The palate reveals black fruit with hints of spice and cured meats. The wine is deep and concentrated yet remains light on its feet.

The 2019 vintage started with a cool winter with normal precipitation, breaking the dry trend of the previous six years. Spring was wet and cool with bud break coming a few weeks later than usual. The favorable preseason and into spring rainfall bode well for early canopy development that would endure early summer heat. Flowering progressed normally with minimal shatter across the AVA. June was dry with the first real warming trend beginning toward the end of the month. July started warm, showing the typical Paso Robles pattern of hot days and cold nights, but cooler weather toward the end of the month delayed veraison by a few weeks. Mid-August warmed again and stayed that way through early September with the usual Paso Robles cold Fall nights, which preserves natural acidity in the fruit, giving us the ability for some longer hang time in the late ripening varieties. Some hotter days lasted into the first couple weeks of October and then the weather cooled to be more moderate. The crop yield was back in line with historical averages or slightly below average after a big year in 2018, which was big due to all the rain we had that year. The moderate rainfall, good temperatures, smaller than normal crop and long harvest should bode well for a great vintage in the bottle.