Description
Midnight Cellars was the 29th established winery in Paso Robles and is the happy neighbor of many notable vineyards. This area, also known as the Templeton Gap, has warm days and cool maritime influenced nights, making it a prime growing location. The vineyard is planted on hillside and hilltop in shale and limestone-rich soil. The southwest sloping hills face the Pacific Ocean, influencing a temperature swing of 40-50 degrees from daytime to nighttime. Richard Hartenberger, son of Mary Jane and Robert, is Midnight Cellars’ winemaker. By controlling every aspect of the winemaking process, from the vineyard to the bottle, he creates wine that optimizes the appellation and the Westside Templeton Gap fruit. Rich is the sole determiner of the picks, and is in the winery every day of the harvest season. In 1996, the family planted 21,000 vines on the hillside and hilltop of their 160 acre ranch. From the bottom of the vineyard to the top there is an elevation change of 500 feet. On three-wire trellises are 8.5 acres of Merlot, 8.5 acres of Zinfandel, 8 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon, 4.5 acres of Chardonnay and .5 acre of Petit Verdot. The harvest of 2012 marked the 17th leafing year in the vineyard. “The maturity of the vines adds to the full-bodied, complex and established flavor profile” says Rich. The root system reaches 25 to 30 feet through the shale and limestone rich soil. With a greater day-to-night temperature swing than any other appellation in California, the grapes in the Templeton Gap make for brilliant ripe fruit.
Midnight Estate Zinfandel 2012
Wine Enthusiast Tasting Note
This offers a classic Zin nose, with dried strawberries, plums, white sage, black loam and a minty lift. The palate is juicy but restrained, with ripe olallieberries cut by licorice and tobacco, bound together with considerable grip. Score – 91. (MATT KETTMANN, Wine Enthusiast, Dec. 2015)
Tastings Tasting Note
Ruby color. Aromas of dried blueberries, raspberries and cherries and candle wax with a supple, fruity medium-full body and a zesty candied lime, raisin, pepper, and blood orange sorbet finish. A big, racy zin that is sure to please zinheads. Score–90.
Winemaker’s Tasting Note
This wine is ruby red in color with aromas of raspberries, cherries and blueberries, and a supple body that has just the right amount of jamminess. You will find this Zinfandel has notes of zesty candied peaches in the mid palate and great acidity. The finish will leave you with ripe plum, white pepper and dusty tannins. Drink now through 2022.
AWARDS
Gold Medal – Central Coast Wine Competition
Gold Medal – San Francisco Chronicle
89 Points – Vinous (formerly Stephen Tanzer)
