Pinder Winery

Imagine a vegetable Napolean with grilled green bell peppers, eggplant, tomatoes, onions and asparagus, and you have the perfect pair for this wine. (By the way, have you ever found a really great wine pair with asparagus?)

This wine has pungent aromas of root crops, dusty blackberries and bell peppers. It is a rustic-style wine with just enough cocoa and dried cherry to keep the vegetables at bay. I can see them looming large on the billboards of the Central Coast: huge artichokes and broccoli bearing machetes. Seriously, if you drive the Salinas corridor of 101, you will see gargantuan cutouts of men displaying broccoli and cabbage, proudly leaning on their pitchforks. In San Benito County, vegetables rule. Every town is the crucifer capitol (yes, and capital, too) of something, from Watsonville as the Artichoke Capitol to Salinas as the Broccoli Capital. Everyone knows Gilroy is the Garlic capital, except, alas, it is slowly losing its crown(s) to China. Lest you think I ruminate too much on the vegetables, here is the description of this Cab from the winery’s website:

“This wine is nicknamed "Hillbrook" after the school located in Los Gatos.  Several students and their families helped to pick and ferment this wine as part of a school project.  These hot weather grapes produce a cab with distinct vegetal characteristics.  This wine would be great paired with hearty dishes, meat sauces, and barbecue.” – I’d also add, asparagus.

(13.9% alc; 75 cases produced)

Reviewed June 21, 2006 by Laura Ness.