70% Off? This Paso Rhône Won’t Last Long

Wow! Do we ever have a deal for you Insider’s Advantage folks today! I’m still pinching myself a little on this one... pure Paso goodness from an incredible, rising-star winery at a simply ridiculous price—plus double 94-point scores from Jeb Dunnuck and Wine Enthusiast!

Caelestra is a relatively new estate based in the Templeton Gap District of Paso Robles. The vines are planted on steep hillsides underpinned by West Side Paso’s famed calcareous soils. The warm sunny days, cool windy nights, steep rocky slopes, and ancient marine sedimentary soils produce wines of incredible flavor and character.

Young winemaker Brian Farrell honed his craft at top Paso wineries (like Denner), along with harvest stints in Australia’s Barossa Valley, building his skillset with Rhône varieties. Now back at his family’s estate—and with the vines reaching maturity—his powerful, layered wines are starting to attract attention from top critics.

The 2021 Parallax is a classic Southern Rhône-style blend of 54% Mourvèdre, 32% Syrah, and 14% Grenache. I love that Mourvèdre leads this wine. If there’s one thing Paso Robles wines have in spades, it’s rich, ripe fruit—Grenache and Syrah bring decadent, exotic notes with ease. But the Mourvèdre adds a really cool, earthy, gamey complexity that elevates the wine beyond many of its peers. Its late-ripening nature also lends the wine great natural acidity and vibrancy on the palate, balancing all that lush fruit.

The wine shows dried rose petal, dark red berry fruits, crushed blackcurrant, cocoa powder, liquored cherry, hints of smoked meat, scorched earth, dried chaparral, and Asian spice notes. It’s medium to full-bodied, structured but not overly so, and certainly approachable now or over the next 5–10 years.

Try it with a Santa Maria–style rubbed tri-tip or even smoky St. Louis ribs. Mhmm—so good and satisfying. This is a crazy good bottle of wine for the money and likely won’t last long! The winery made us a deeply discounted deal here—70% off the original SRP!

-Ryan Woodhouse, K&L Domestic Wine Buyer