Imagine finding an original Barbie in your attic in perfect condition. Or a vintage Eames chair at a garage sale. Or a pair of 1985 Air Jordan 1s, new in the box in your basement. All fantastic finds that you’d need INSANE luck to get.

Today’s wine is no luck needed, while just as juicy. A truly elegant Grenache from a long-time Sonoma-based winemaking family with fruit from Paso Robles’ coolest sector. For UNDER $30?!

The Meeker family has been making wine since the early 1970s in Dry Creek Valley. Within 5 years of launching The Meeker Vineyard their 1980 Dry Creek Calley Zinfandel hit the Wine Spectator Top-100… not a bad way to start out! The second generation is at the helm now and continues its reputation for excellence with “traditional wines, experimental minds.”

The Hollyhock Vineyard is situated in the ultra-hip Templeton Gap District and provides superb fruit to some of Paso Robles’ most prized wineries like Tablas Creek. The region is named after the route cooling winds flow inland through the Santa Lucia Mountain Range from the Pacific Ocean. Jeb Dunnuck notes, “While Paso Robles is a warm region, the limestone soils, as well as the cooling effect of the Pacific Ocean and Templeton Gap, help retain freshness and acidity in the wines.”

With visionaries like Turtle Rock, ONX, and Austin Hope sprinting to source from the Gap, it is, after all, “the coolest AVA in Paso Robles” as confirmed by Wine Folly who adds “If you’re looking for cooler climate style wines, with racy acidity, fresh fruit flavors, and lower alcohol then Templeton Gap District is where you’ll find them.”

And this stunner is all that and more. Bright red fruit characteristics with the layered nuance of herb and earth. Enjoy rosemary, bay leaf, and pomegranate with silky smooth tannins and complex minerality which leads into a long finish. This is some of the purest Paso juice we’ve tasted in a long time.

Small, focused production leads to not that much wine! At 40% off it shan’t be around for long so do not delay…

91 Points – Wine Enthusiast

“Quite light and transparent in the glass, this single-vineyard Grenache offers subdued pomegranate aromas alongside sagebrush, crushed rock and turned soil. The palate’s sappy texture and rocky minerality frame orange rind and cranberry flavors.”