Bootleg

Bootleg is a tribute to American Prohibition: during those years, winegrowers in San Luis Obispo County, unlike elsewhere in the country, simply carried on working. Some shipped grapes east under the guise of "pressed juice", complete with instructions on how to make quite sure it did not ferment into wine. Instructions that many a home brewer studiously ignored. Bootleg honours that headstrong, rule-dodging spirit with approachable, sturdy red wines from Paso Robles, with its characteristic combination of limestone and sandy loam soils. Worth knowing: Paso Robles was one of the few American wine regions that kept growing rather than shrinking during Prohibition.