Wine Tasting Notes
Robert Hall Winery.
Robert and Margaret Hall founded Robert Hall Winery in 1995 by builder and developer, Robert Hall. With past ventures such as apartment buildings, bowling centers and laundromats, Robert Hall has also been involved in the travel and hospitality industries. His inspiration for starting a winery came in the late 1970s during a trip to France. He searched for a location for his winery, moving west from his native Minnesota to Arizona and finally Paso Robles in the mid-1990s.
Located on the south side of Highway 46, east of the city of Paso Robles and east of Huerhuero Creek, the property enjoys warm to hot daytime temperatures. Still, it does not get as hot as in the vineyards to the east of the AVA – near Shandon, at the foot of the Diablo and Temblor mountain ranges. There is still a cooling marine effect seen here, particularly at night. This comes from the Pacific Ocean, 20 miles to the west. Cool air drafts in through the Templeton Gap of the Santa Lucia Mountains to the west. All in all, the growing season in the area is long, dry, consistent and well suited to late-ripening varieties.
There are now 4 vineyards growing some 300 acres of fertile varied soils (moderately deep, slightly alkaline, calcareous, mix of granitie, shale, sand, loam limestone and clay gravel and chalk) growing 23 varieties: Alvarelhão, Cabernet franc, Cabernet sauvignon, Carignane, Chardonnay, Cinsault, Counoise, Grenache, Grenache blanc, Malbec, Merlot, Mourvèdre, Orange Muscat, Petite Syrah, Piquepoul blanc, Roussanne, Sauvignon blanc, Souzão, Syrah, Tinta cão, Touriga, Viognier and Zinfandel.
The 140-acre Home Vineyard is the first and original property located east of the winery on Highway 46. The wines from this vineyard go into the core of the winery's production. The Bench Vineyard is home to the winery and the Hospitality Center at the junction of Highway 46 and Mill Road, overlooking Huerhuero Creek. This site grows 12 acres of clone 8 Cabernet sauvignon and Syrah. North of Highway 46, the Terrace and Brady Vineyards lie on the southern banks of the Estrella River. The 65-acre Terrace Vineyard is just north-east of the Paso Robles Airport. The 18-acre Brady Vineyard is winemaker Don Brady's family vineyard, located east of the Terrace Vineyard on alluvial soils of the Estrella River's south bank.
Don Brady joined Robert Hall Winery in 2001 and bottled the label's first wine in 2002. He studied horticulture at Texas Tech University in Lubbock. His first job out of school was at for Llano Estacado Winery (just outside Lubbock) – the largest premium winery in west Texas. His contribution to Texas viticulture earned him the Texas Wine and Grape Growers Association’s “Louis F. Qualia” Award for his contributions to the Texas wine industry in 1999. Prior to coming to Robert Hall, he was Director of winemaking at Delicato's San Bernabe vineyard in the the AVA of the same name. Don has also received the "Wine of America" Award from International Wine and Spirits in 2001. In 2006, the Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance with the Independent Grape Growers of Paso Robles and the San Luis Obispo Vintners Association named him “Winemaker of the Year”. Don's approach to winemaking is rooted in his horticulture. He focuses on bringing out vineyard expression in the wine by getting the fruit to its best prior to harvest and vinification. Once on the crushpad, he says he treats the fruit in a traditi0onal manner. Rather than molding fruit to predetermined style, he believes in letting the fruit and site express themselves.
The Robert Hall wines are typified by restraint and food friendliness in a world of Tim-Allen-esque drive for "more power". Entry-level reds are clean, usually medium-bodied, fruit-forward with a distinct Paso Robles character and less defined varietal typicity than reserve bottlings. The reserve wines tend have a greater degree of extraction with structure conducive to longer aging. The Bordeaux styled wines represent a broad selection of solid reds and whites. The Robert Hall Rhône wines are particularly interesting. The newly created Pape de Robles is a Châteauneuf du Pape - styled red Rhône blend has great power and potential longevity. The Blanc de Robles is a blend of a touch of Piquepoul blanc (from the less-than-one acre plating on Hall Ranch) blended in with Grenache blanc and Roussanne and offers wonderful aromatics on great acidity, making the wine a great companion to seafood.
2005 Robert Hall Cabernet sauvignon, Paso Robles
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