Tobin James
This is
an interesting winery. On
the one hand,
you could see them as having a real scattergun approach, making wine
from
whatever decent wines they can find, and you also get impression as you
walk
round the winery that they are almost ticking off an encyclopaedia of
grape
varieties as they make a wine from each.
On the other hand, they could be seen as innovative and
experimental,
looking above all for fun in their wines and looking to play with
different
varietals.
The
barrel store is kept at a low humidity, and they lose a lot to the
angels.
2003 Sundance Sauvignon Blanc,
Monterey County, Tobin James, 13.5%
Quite asparagus and green pea on the nose.
Very crisp palate: it seems to have quite a lot of acidity. Fresh and full at the same
time, with great
length. Very Good. 87/100
2005 Radiance
Chardonnay, Monterey
County, Tobin James,
13.5%
25% undergoes malolactic fermentation.
It has a very fresh nose with just a bit of lightly
fragrant tropical
fruit. Fresh and
remarkably crisp on the
palate. Very
refreshing with a nice
acidity. Initially
it has good balance,
but the acidity makes itself very much felt on the finish. Very Good Indeed. 90/100
2005 James
Gang Reserve
Chardonnay, Monterey County, Tobin James
Fermented and aged in French oak.
The
nose is very full and oaky, but it’s not as full on the
palate as you might
think. This is a
nice, rich, creamy
chardonnay, but it’s pretty much standard stuff. Very Good/Very Good Indeed. 88/100
2005 Paradise
Syrah Rosé, Paso
Robles, Tobin James,
13%
This is 94% syrah and 6% zinfandel.
Grapes are bought in to give a good Paso Robles feel. They go to the best small
plots and pay by
the acre, not by the ton.
It’s a deep strawberry-salmon pink.
The
nose combines perfumed strawberry and stewed strawberry notes. Quite a full cooked
strawberry palate. Nicely
balanced, but it feels sweet and
jammy.
A second bottle is produced, as they suspected the first might have
been open
too long: this bottle is much paler and younger-looking. There are light fresh
strawberry notes on the
nose. Initially
it’s crisp and fresh on
the palate, but then it fills out nicely.
This is a nice, neat rosé with decent depth. On the basis of this
second bottle, Very Good
Indeed. 89/100
2004 Primo
Sangiovese, Paso
Robles, Tobin James,
13.6%
This has a lovely, minerally red fruit and cherry nose.
Lovely soft palate, with some nice acidity
keeping it fresh and elegant. Very
long. It’s
nothing like Chianti, but
it’s a very enjoyable wine. Very Good Indeed.
89/100
2004 Made in
the Shade Merlot,
Paso Robles, Tobin James, 14.6%
This has a lovely gentle, plummy nose with a nice tobacco note. It’s much richer
and fuller on the palate
than the nose would lead you to believe.
There’s a nice spice too.
A
fairly impressive merlot. Very
Good
Indeed. 89/100
2005
Ballistic Zinfandel, Paso Robles,
Tobin James,
15.5%
A big, rich raspberry nose with some white chocolate notes. Lovely palate:
there’s some super fruit with
lots of spicy power behind. Then
the
fruit flavours come back on the finish and linger very long. Very integrated. Very Good Indeed. 92/100
2004
Rock-n-Roll Syrah, Paso
Robles, Tobin James,
14.5%
A meaty, animalistic nose. Good
palate:
it’s very concentrated with some berry fruit.
This is made in a big style and has a spicy feel on the
finish. Enormous
length. There’s
just something a bit odd about
it. Very Good? 85/100
2004 James
Gang Reserve Cabernet
Sauvignon, Paso Robles, Tobin James, 14.3%
Very cedary, pencil-shavings on the nose with some blackcurrants and
vanilla
oak. It’s
very precise on the palate
with a nice focus. It
has good balance,
but the fruit comes further forward as it goes on.
There’s a very ripe feel to it, but without
it being jammy. Big
tannins make
themselves felt on the finish. Very
Good
Indeed -. 88/100
2004 James
Gang Reserve Cabernet
Franc, Paso Robles, Tobin James, 14.8%
Quite cabernet sauvignon-like on the nose, though with a nice elegant
scent. It’s
quite big on the palate and
has quite a north-east Italian feel to it.
Good balance, with lots of depth.
Very long after. This
is an interesting
wine. Very
Good/Very Good Indeed. 87/100
2004 Estate
Private Stash, Paso
Robles, Tobin James,
14.6%
This is harvested and fermented as a field blend, comprising 34%
cabernet
sauvignon, 33% cabernet franc and 33% merlot.
This has a gorgeous nose: it’s quite Pauillac-like, but with
a new world
edge. The palate
largely follows the
nose: it’s quite focussed and nicely together.
It has a fairly young feel to it and could do with two or
three years to
mature. There’s
great length and a nice
spicing. Very Good
Indeed. 91/100
2004 James
Gang Reserve, Paso
Robles, Tobin James,
15%
This is a 50:50 blend of cabernet sauvignon and syrah.
There are waves of cassis, waves of black
plums and blackberries on the nose.
Very
direct and balance on the attack with a nice purity of fruit. Not overly deep and maybe
a bit
uni-dimensional, but it’s still very enjoyable and reasonably
satisfying. There
is some interesting sour cherry fruit
on the finish. Very
Good Indeed-. 89/100
2003 James
Gang Reserve Syrah,
Paso Robles, Tobin James, 15.5%
Aged in American oak. There
is very
concentrated, pure syrah fruit on the nose – and it is fruit
rather than meat;
very pure direct black fruit. Very
concentrated on the palate. This
is a
very big wine, tending towards being a bit overdone.
Very Good.
86/100
2003 Blue
Moon Reserve Syrah, Paso
Robles, Tobin James,
16.7%
This is Tobin James’ premium syrah, with an eye watering
price tag of $150 a
bottle. It comes
from fruit grown on a
small hillside vineyard on the west of Paso Robles.
The vines, which took nine years to bear
fruit and were still just tiny thin sticks then, produce very tiny
berries in
small quantities: in 2001, the vines produced just two clusters each
and the 10
acre vineyard produced just one ton of fruit (the vines are now
producing up
to four tons from the 10 acres). The
wine goes into 100% new French oak, twice: it’s racked into
new, medium toast
barrels after the first year. Production
is under 100 cases.
On the nose, it doesn’t feel overoaked: there is just lots of
ultra-concentrated fruit. In
the mouth,
it’s rich, massive and ultra blowsy, with huge fruit. Very Good.
86/100
2005 Fat Boy
Zinfandel, Tobin
James (barrel
sample)
Wow! What a nose:
it almost fills the
winery when a glass is drawn off: “it’s like
sticking your face into a
boysenberry bush,” says Claire Silver. I've
no idea what a boysenberry bush is and haven't knowingly stuck my face
into one, so don't know about that. But, this is a huge,
almost mental wine.
Massive. Yet
also delicious. Though
I’m not sure I’d want much more than a
sample. Very Good. 86/100
2005 Pinot
Noir barrel sample, Arroyo
Grande Vineyard, Tobin James
Quite forward raspberry and strawberry fruit on the nose. Very tight, but it has the
makings of
something good. Potentially
87-88/100
2005
Tempranillo barrel reserve,
Tobin James
(barrel sample)
The nose has some cherry fruit and a nice feel.
Rich, velvety and chocolatey on the palate. Potentially 86-88/100
2005 Barbera,
Tobin James (barrel
sample)
A gorgeous nose – really seductive, and this really follows
through on the
palate. Fabulous
stuff. Potentially
90-92/100
2005 Cabernet
Sauvignon, Tobin
James (barrel
sample)
The barrels used for this are composite barrels with French oak heads
and
American stakes. From
grapes grown on
the west side of Paso. A
very pure nose. This
is already quite impressive: there’s already
a nice balance and it’s quite voluptuous.
Potentially 90-93/100
2004 James
Gang Reserve Refosco,
Paso Robles, Tobin James, 14.8%
This has a lovely, rich perfumed nose.
There’s big ripe fruit on the palate.
This is very full and really powerful for a refosco, and
it’s completely
different to a north Italian version.
Good/Very Good. 85/100
1999 Blue
Moon Reserve Zinfandel,
Paso Robles, Tobin James
This has a nice mature appearance.
It’s
a touch stinky on the nose initially, but with aeration it blows off,
revealing
quite an elegant, mature zinfandel with leathery black fruit. Good palate.
Full and clean, though a touch hot, and there’s
a slight hint of raisins
on the palate. Very
Good. 87/100
NV Sparkling
Dreamweaver, Tobin
James
A blend of chardonnay, chenin and muscat, made by the charmat method. It has a biscuity,
perfumed nose with a nice
zesty note. Rich
full palate. Decent
enough stuff. Good.
84/100
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Last updated: 1 January 2008