Mark Matthess
matthess, Cardiff
This small boutique winery just open their own wine tasting room and while modest, it boats of so much charm due to the friendly proprietors Steve and Pam Lock. You feel like family after sitting down and sampling their wines and this is where it gets even better. Never have I been to a winery and have fallen in love with every wine they produce. Not just one or two, but all six with another one on the way. Their benchmark Syrah was a gold medal winner at the San Francisco Wine Competition in 2008. This like all their wines is one to nose first. The overtones of chocolate and layers of fruit and spice. This ranks up there with some of the best I have ever had. But if you enjoy some of Paso Robles beautiful Rhone blends, Ecluse makes two called, Rendition and Ensemble and both to die for. I prefer the Rendition due to 59% Syrah followed by Grenache and Mourvedre. I am not a huge everyday Cab lover but they make one that is converting me. Most Cabs this intense require a good meaty meal to back it up, not this one. Beautiful aromas of blackberry, coffee and chocolate with balanced tannins makes a rich and smooth wine one could drink everyday with no meaty meal required. For the Zin lovers, all I can say is WOW. These folks hit a home run. They make a Zin just like I ordered it, fruit forward and jammy with strong notes of balckberries just like the west side of Paso Robles is famous for. Pam Lock said this wine always gets sold out quickly with only 98 cases produced. And for the white wine lovers, try their Prelude. This is another Rhone blend that is a great alternative to Chardonnay. Another home run with Viognier, Roussanne, Grenache Blanc and Marsanne with floral notes of honey and fruit and incredibly smooth. Again it goes fast with only 98 cases produced. This small winery were growers for years and their grapes were going into some of the best wines coming out of Paso, but not now. They jumped on the band wagon and now have total control over their production. I love the name Ecluse and found out from Steve Lock their name in French is Ecluse, like the locks that control the canals over there. Congratulations to this winery and to Steve and Pam Lock, I thought every one of their wines were gold medal winners.