Coastline Cabernet Sauvignon

Wine: Coastline Cabernet Sauvignon.

Grapes: Cabernet sauvignon (89 percent), barbera (10 percent), petite sirah (1 percent)

Region: Paso Robles, Calif. (Central Coast)

Vintage: 2008

Price: $9.99

In the glass: Coastline Cabernet is a deeply colored ruby-red with a dense-looking core going out into a fine light violet-red rim definition with medium-high viscosity.

On the nose: The wine oozes crushed loganberries, elderberry fruit skins and creme de cassis with a touch of underlying sweetness, then oak-infused phenols, black cherry liqueur and earth-driven minerals. It is already very attractive.

On the palate: The wine expands to reveal considerable richness in both black fruit and phenolics. There are soft, juicy black currant notes with cherry, loganberry, oak references, violet pastilles and exotic spice components at play through the midpalate, which shows good balance, delineation and moderate supple tannins. The finish completes the picture of this wine as a well-made, full-bodied cabernet-based wine that lingers for 30-plus seconds with yet more black fruits and phenols. Altogether a very good to excellent wine that is an exemplary performer in this price category.

Odds and ends: Paso Robles has always been known for its outstanding cabernet sauvignon, which is entirely different in style from the ones made in Napa Valley. They are characterized as being more classic in the sense of true to the grape variety, and the micro-climate is cooler than Napa. Coastline is made by Adler Fels Winery in Santa Rosa, from vineyards that are a straight shot inland from the famed Hearst Castle in San Simeon. Try it with a cheese platter and some nice rustic breads for a little lighter meal. Drink it now through 2012.

Gil Lempert-Schwarz's wine column appears Wednesdays. Write him at P.O. Box 50749, Henderson, NV 89016-0749, or e-mail him at gil@winevegas.com.