Behind the Cork™ - Tobin James Ballistic Zinfandel

2018 Tobin James Ballistic Zinfandel ($17) When a local grape harvester showed up at with six tons of Zinfandel grapes that he was willing to give away, Tobin “Toby” James, a young assistant winemaker at the time, asked if he could have the grapes to make his own wine. "Sure kid, knock yourself out," the owner replied. A year and a half later, Toby’s first wine won double gold medals, and a spot on The Wine Spectator’s coveted "Top 100 Wines of the Year.” Tobin James Cellars was born. For the next few years, Toby quietly produced his own popular small-batch wines, tasting and selling them out of a local wine shop in Paso Robles. Then in 1993, Toby finally took the plunge and built Tobin James Cellars. In 1996, Toby was joined by partners and winemakers, Lance and Claire Silver, who updated and expanded the winery to what it is today. They call Ballistic Zinfandel "Paso in a glass" as it is made up of 100% Zinfandel sourced from 27 individual vineyards from the diverse AVAs th

by Marc Kirkpatrick · source ↗