As anyone who has made the trek south to the Central Coast recently can tell you, there’s a whole lot more than cowboys and high-test Zinfandel going on in Paso Robles these days!  In fact, the days when your visits to Paso wine country would be hot, boring and short are long gone. These days there are scores of places to visit, great cooking around the square and far more wineries than ever before on both sides of the highway producing outstanding reds and whites from the Rhone varieties and Cabernet Sauvignon as well as the traditional mainstay Zin.  We’d like to introduce you to the future of Paso Robles Cabernet Sauvignon-based wines in the region, the compelling My Favorite Neighbor.  Booker is one of the new wave of producers making some of the most prodigious, compelling wines in the entire Central Coast and winemaker Eric Jensen’s flagship- the one-and-only My Favorite Neighbor- has really turned a lot of heads!  I am sure that it would probably cost twice or three times the price if they were from the Napa Valley or Eastern Washington. More polished than just about anything else we’ve ever had from Paso, it’s rich with currant-y, raspberry-like fruit that gives way to Bordeaux-like graphite and chopped herbs as well as something pretty and floral.  It’s amazingly complex for such a young wine and just a ton of fun to drink.   And while the other Booker wines, mostly based on the Rhone varieties, are certainly attracting a ton of attention in their own right, this Cabernet-based wine was something of an epiphany for us, especially for the price!  Wow!  I’m pretty sure you’ll agree! Not yet rated by the critics but it’s a big point getter every vintage too.