Rhone varietal hill country: Alta Colina in Paso Robles

If you’re searching for top notch wines made with Rhone varietal grapes here in the US, the somewhat elusive hunt for them can force you to venture well off the beaten path.  And the extreme is tracking down great Mourvèdre and Grenache wines, but the rewards are worth it.

One of the best places to start the search is Paso Robles.  Since the early days of winemaking, their “Rhone Rangers” have been obsessed with perfecting wines made from Rhone varietals, and the results are continuing to be impressive.  This includes both red and white renditions.

One of the smaller vintners who, according to their owner Bob Tillman, has the “process” but not quite the “fame” is Alta Colina.  But his daughter Maggie is doing as much as possible to change all that.  She has been working tirelessly with some of the best talent in the industry to get the word out, of course that all takes time. So meanwhile, their wines remain reasonably priced, small lot vintages that may be among Paso Robles’ better values.

A visit to the property is hardly like the grand tour in the BMW, with the consummate long winding road up to the storybook winery that many producers make available to visitors.  Rather, it’s just a ride in Bob’s pickup to the top of the mountain where their vineyards remain hidden from view by motorists on the road below.  There, a very happy place emerges with acres of Rhone varietal fruit thriving in the hot afternoon sun and cool nights of a slightly higher elevation in the Paso Robles appellation.

Like Rhone?  Then you’ll like their “Mo-Ved”.  Why?  Because strong sun can result in a blush colored Mourvèdre, but with careful cultivation, it develops a structure and color that this finicky varietal displays in few other locales.

Alta Colina’s is carefully babied under each vines’ canopy to prevent the southern sun from “bleaching” the grape clusters.  This preserves the wine’s natural color, eliminating the need to blend with Syrah or Grenache in enhance its redness.  Theirs is created straight-up with a nice deep red color, rich berry bouquet, and supportive tannic structure.  There are few like it on the west coast.

Of course one of their biggest wines is a GSM blend that has all the power of its French Rhone Valley cousins.  So if you’re in Paso, you may want to look them up.  It’s a different tour with different wines that will surely keep Alta Colina in the Rhone Rangers club for years to come.

Article by Tom Peiffer, Phoenix Wine Shopping Examiner at Examiner.com

View more of Tom’s articles on Examiner.com by visiting his writer’s page.