We tasted these two Pax red at Laura's Pig+Fig last week:
1. Pax TheVicar NorthCoast RW (14.9%; 50% Grenache/30% Mourv/20% Syrah; Castelli-Knight/Griffin'sLair/AlderSprings/Bedrock vnyds; U/U; 5 500 litre puncheons/228 cs) 2010: Dark color w/ some bricking; bit tired/dried out/cedary/pencilly some toasty/oaksome Grenache/strawberry old Rhonish/CdP some pencilly/toasty/Fr.oak some complex attractive nose; lightly tart slightly tired pleasant GSM slight Rhonsh bit complex flavor w/ light tannins; med.long finish bit tired finish follows flavor; a pleasant enough slightly Rhonish mature GSM but just that; not going to improve any and headed in its downward spiral; not at all unpleasant but just a bit tired. $38.00
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2. Pax JamesBerryVnyd/PasoRobles RW (15.1%; 90% Grenache/10% Mourv; U/U; 3 brls/138 cs) 2010: Very dark color w/ some browning; fairly strong Grenache/strawberry slight earthy light pencilly/Fr.oak some complex/interesting nose; rather soft some ripe/plummy/Grenache/strawberry slight metallic/tangy bit Rhonish/CdP/earthy bit complex attractive Rhonish flavor w/ light gentle tannins; a fully mature pleasant GSM red at its peak or a bit beyond; not a lot of PR/jammy/ripe character. $52.00
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More pikkelspint from TheBloodyPulpit:
1. I've followed PaxMahle from (before) the very start. At one of the Syrah Shootouts at HdR, this young man approached me & wanted me to try his ho-made wine, a Syrah. I was pretty impressed by it. In the next few yrs, he went commercial. Back in those days, his wines were much more bigger & extracted. He has since lightened up his touch, but I still like his wines a lot. Just don't follow them as closely as I should.
Tom