Donati Family Vineyard Claret Paicines 2014

Dude! Most extreme over-delivering bargain alert!

If you drink red wine (especially Bordeaux style blends of Cabernet, Cab Franc, Merlot, etc.) with the gusto, mojo, and simply unabashed fervor and zest that WE all do (hey, we got 20 employees and these folks are THIRSTY), we need to ask you to DROP, stop, pull your car off the road, hang up on Grandma or whoever, and GET SOME. Quick!!

Hey, we’re feeling it too -- our brains still can’t wrap themselves around such an astounding deal on a 90-POINT Bordeaux blend. It just blows us away when we find exceedingly drinkable, well-priced red like this, and then we work our magic and VOILA -- happily unleash it to the nation. We LIVE for this kind of stuff!

OK, ok. Got some? Cool. Here’s the deal.

You’ve likely never heard of the Paicines AVA, centered in Paicines (pop. 204) near Hollister, CA (think east of Monterey). But it has a rather rich history as a grape-growing region, and it’s now being re-discovered with a focus on uber-quality. Since 1998, Donati is leading that charge. So when this little overachiever hit our tasting bar (totally new to us), it was quickly singled out as “we gotta get this”, mostly because of its rich, dark, almost opaque color,  its jammy, spicecake-y nose, cigar box spice and cola notes, which all lead into a fresh-baked blackberry mouthful of easy-drinking, toasty goodness. SHOCKINGLY good at this nearly-absurd price we negotiated --- a must for all-the-time drinking. BUT HURRY! We bought a lot, but when you get Cabernet-based yum like this at $11, it usually disappears mighty quick! Good luck…