The Paring / Jonata house spotlight
James Suckling walks the Jonata vineyard in Ballard Canyon on jamessucklingtv. Matt Dees makes The Paring from the same house, the more open Cabernet-led blend beside Jonata.
2020 The Paring Red Wine California, USA
Matt Dees's Cabernet-led Paring from the Jonata house, dusty tannin and grilled-bread savor, a 2020 you can open at twenty-three dollars.
The 2020 Paring Red is 60 percent Cabernet Sauvignon with Franc, Merlot, and Petit Verdot: lifted black fruit, savory herbs, grilled bread, espresso, and anise after 22 months in French oak, now $23.
Jonata's winemaker, in a bottle meant for the table tonight
The Paring is Matt Dees's more open Cabernet-led wine from the same house as Jonata and The Hilt. The 2020 is 60 percent Cabernet Sauvignon, 15 percent Cabernet Franc, 15 percent Merlot, 10 percent Petit Verdot, aged 22 months in French oak, 55 percent new. Dees's own note: lifted black fruit, savory herbs, grilled bread, espresso, anise, then a long precise finish. Sandy soils, cooler sites, cassis and tobacco without cult-wine theater. Twenty-three dollars.
The house
Matt Dees makes Jonata, The Hilt, and The Paring. The Paring is the table wine from that cellar, not a leftover.
The wine
60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Franc, 15% Merlot, 10% Petit Verdot. 22 months, 55% new French oak. 14.5% ABV. Unfined, unfiltered.
The vintage
Dees called the 2020 a study in elegance: sweet versus savory, dusty tannin, bright acidity, a long precise finish.
The drinker
Serve 60 to 64 F. Thirty minutes of air. Steak or prime rib.
Black fruit and herbs, then grilled bread and espresso
Matt Dees: utterly fascinating nose mixing lifted black fruit, savory green herbs, and dark notes of grilled bread, espresso, and anise. Bright red fruit and black plum on the palate. A constant play between sweet and savory. Gentle dusty tannins, mulberry sweetness, tension between tannin and acidity. Jeb Dunnuck found darker currants, tobacco, cedary herbs, bay leaf, and spice in a medium-bodied, nicely textured frame.
Sandy soils and slightly cooler sites. Dees bottled a Cabernet-inspired 2020 with focused fruit and shapely tannins. Drink it now. It is built for the table, not a speech.
Lifted black fruit, red fruit, black plum, mulberry, savory herbs, grilled bread, espresso, anise, tobacco.
Medium-bodied, 14.5% ABV, dusty tannin, 22 months 55% new French oak.
Long, precise, sweet-savory. Serve 60 to 64 F. Thirty minutes of air.
Cabernet architecture, then 22 months of French oak
On The Paring sheet, the 2020 is 60 percent Cabernet Sauvignon, 15 percent Cabernet Franc, 15 percent Merlot, and 10 percent Petit Verdot. It ages 22 months in French oak, 55 percent new, from Taransaud, Sylvain, Bel Air, and Dejarnac. That is a serious barrel program for a twenty-three-dollar wine. Dees wants cassis, tobacco, and chocolate with enough savory herb to keep it from turning into dessert.
The Paring started as a by-the-glass thank-you from the Jonata and Hilt cellar. It is still the more open bottle from that sand and that hand.
Serve 60 to 64 F. Thirty minutes of air. Steak is the house pairing.
A paring knife from a cellar that also makes Jonata
The name is the chef's paring knife, and a nod to pairing food and wine. The cellar is Matt Dees's.
Matt Dees arrived at Jonata in 2004 with a soil-science degree and a vineyard-first brief. The Paring is the house's more approachable Cabernet-led blend from that same farming.
Jonata sits on Careaga sand in Ballard Canyon. The Paring draws on sandy, cooler sites in that Santa Barbara world, then bottles under California.
The 2020 is that idea at twenty-three dollars: Dees's Cabernet, not a generic state blend.
Steak on the board, a roast in the oven
Cabernet-led Paring wants browned beef and a little herb. Ribeye and prime rib both work.
Two plates. One ribeye. One prime rib with red-wine jus. Both can take 2020 Paring.
Serve 60 to 64 F. Thirty minutes of air. A wide glass keeps herbs and espresso visible beside the fruit.
Perfect Pan-Seared Steaks
A hard crust, coarse salt, pan juices. The Paring at the steak table.
Why it works: Beef fat meets dusty tannin. Char pulls black fruit, herb, and espresso forward.
View Recipe for Perfect Pan-Seared Steaks (opens in a new tab)
Perfect Prime Rib with Red Wine Jus
Roast beef, salt crust, and a wine jus. The cleanest match for cassis, cedar, and dusty tannin.
Why it works: Fat and jus meet 14.5% Cabernet. Acidity keeps the plate from going heavy.
View Recipe for prime rib with red wine jus (opens in a new tab)Put The Paring in the cart
Matt Dees, Jonata cellar, Cabernet-led 2020. Twenty-three dollars.
Put it in the cart. This is the table bottle from a serious Santa Barbara house.
