Eberle Cabernet Sauvignon 2009

Winemaker's notes:

The colors and aromatics from the 2009 vintage are exceptional and the result of a stellar growing and ripening season. Remarkably well-balanced, displaying concentrated fruit, intense flavor profiles and vivid color extraction. Approachable and enjoyable in its youth, lush with flavors of wild berries, cassis and moderate tannins. One of the best vintages from the Paso Robles Appellation yet!

Paso Robles

California’s Central Coast is geologically different from other California wine growing regions. Unlike others with deep, rich fertile valley soils, there are four general soil types in the Paso Robles AVA primarily formed from weathering granite, serpentine, shale and limestone, with shale and limestone being the most predominant bedrock types. Soil diversity is the norm and a vineyard block may commonly contain several different soil types.

One distinguishing factor of the Paso Robles AVA is the abundance of highly desirable limestone and calcareous-rich soils found throughout the region. Due to geologic uplift, chalky limestone shale is plentiful in Paso Robles’ west-side hills, where dense clay-based soils combine with relatively plentiful rainfall to make it possible for some vines to be dry-farmed without supplemental irrigation. East of the Salinas River, gently rolling hills, many of which are also rich in limestone, are covered with sandy, loamy soils. In the watershed areas, particularly the Estrella River plain, loam and clay are overlain with sand.

The western boundary is just six miles from the Pacific Ocean. The appellation lies on the inland side of the Santa Lucia coastal mountains in San Luis Obispo County, and roughly forms a rectangle 35 miles from east to west, and 25 miles from north to south. It extends from the Monterey County border to the north, to the Cuesta Grade below Santa Margarita to the south, and from the Santa Lucia Mountains to the west, to the Cholame Hills to the east.

The Paso Robles appellation comprises 614,000 acres of which more than 26,000 acres are in wine grape vines. It is the fastest growing and largest by far of three AVAs in San Luis Obispo County, and the main reason that the county ranks behind only Napa, Sonoma and Monterey counties in planted acreage among the state’s coastal growing areas.