2023 Vinos Finos de California Sabroso Central Coast 750 ml

We’ve known Ted Glennon for years. He made his name about a decade ago, when he was named one of Food & Wine magazine’s Sommeliers of the Year. Since transitioning from dining room to cellar, he’s earned massive fans: Most of his wines are snapped up by Michelin-starred restaurants and hip wine bars.

A native of Monterey, Ted is the sixth generation of his family in California, and the first to produce wine. Thanks to his long career in the industry, he’s got insider access to some of the Central Coast’s best under-the-radar vineyards.

The backbone of the wine is 1975-planted Grenache from well-drained, gravelly soils in Arroyo Seco. An original source for the legendary Ventana wines of the 1980s and 90s, this spot’s cool morning fog creates a long growing season. It’s perfect for physiologically mature grapes that don’t carry high finished ABVs—the exact kind of grapes that make this blend sing. 

The Grenache is augmented with 23% own-rooted Zinfandel—Lytton Springs clone, planted in 1983—from the Joullian Vineyard in Carmel Valley. Those grapes are joined by 29% own-rooted Cabernet Pfeffer, a French grape previously known as Mourtaou. This grape, which makes light, peppery, perfumed reds, is now extinct in France. The only plantings in the world are in San Benito County, and these grapes hail from vines planted in 1992.

Rounding out the ‘23 Sabroso is a bit of own-rooted Barbera from the Calleri Vineyard in and Ruché from the Siletto Vineyard, both in San Benito. The result is a quaffable bottle that sells out at the winery and makes a fan out of everyone who tries it.