2013 Herman Story "On the Road" Central Coast Grenache

Vibrant ruby-red. Sexy, focused aromas of raspberry liqueur, potpourri and peppery spices. Sweet, seamless and broad, offering intense red fruit and lavender pastille flavors accented by allspice and star anise. The velvety, expansive, floral finish shows excellent persistence and harmonious tannins. There's 16.1% alcohol here, for those keeping score at home. Owner/winemaker Russell From produces a wide range of rich and usually flamboyant wines at his stripped-down winery in downtown Paso Robles, hard by the railroad tracks. His wines have quickly become among the most sought after bottlings from the region and, like his colleagues who are also high up in the Paso Robles pecking order, his waiting list is growing steadily. From and his wife, Vailia Esh (Desparada), welcomed a new child into the world the night before I visited on June 13 so I tasted through this new set of releases with From‰۪s assistant winemaker, Giovanni Grandinetti. (JR)