Nicora Wines is located where the cool kids seem to be congregating, Tin City Paso Robles. An industrial area that has blown up over the last couple of years. It now features a distillery (Wine Shine), a brewery (BarrelHouse Brewing), and roughly 15 wineries. Coming soon…a restaurant of some sort. You can park your car and never have to leave. It’s got everything.
Now, let’s get back on track.
Nick Elliott is the guy behind Nicora. We went down to Tin City for a scheduled tasting with him, which was cool because it was just Annie, myself, and Nick. Gave us a chance to learn more about him as well as the wines. Here’s what we tasted:
2015 The Undisclosed (52% Viognier 48% Roussanne – Central Coast) $40.00
2013 Euphoric (92% Grenache 8% Syrah – La Vista Vineyard, Adelaida District) $55.00
2013 Syrah (100% Syrah from Shadow Canyon Vineyard, York Mountain) $55.00
2013 Buxom (96% Syrah 4% Grenache – Paso Robles) $50.00
2013 Viognier (Denner Vineyard, Willow Creek District) (Side note: This is a sweeter wine. He lets this fruit hang longer) $45.00
The wines were really nice. I’d describe them as classy, well-structured, approachable wines. The Undisclosed white blend along with the Euphoric and Shadow Canyon Syrah really stood out to me. His access to great vineyards, his winemaking knowledge, and his passion have allowed him to come out with a great product and brand. He had a few wines that were sold out which were from other well-known vineyards like Bien Nacido and Russell Family Vineyard.
We spent about an hour with Nick and he struck me as a determined, driven individual, yet having enough patience to take things slow and do them right the first time. He’s got an interesting back story which I will cover in a follow up article to this one.
His tasting room is modern meets rustic. There’s a large dining table where he does tastings, along with a couch, chair, and coffee table. It felt more like being in his living room which was a nice change from the “typical tasting room”. Thank you to Nick for his time and to Faith Wells for helping to set this up. We’re very impressed and look forward to seeing where Nick’s passion leads him. Stay tuned for the follow up article with more of Nick’s back story sometime next week.
Cheers!
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