LXV Wine

Measurement before romance

A fermenter asks for numbers before it allows instinct in. Jeff Strekas, winemaker at LXV Wine in Paso Robles, brings that order to a small-production house built around still reds, sustainable work, and a tasting room that treats spice as part of the glass. His path to the cellar did not begin in the usual storybook language. Originally from Connecticut, he trained as a chemical engineer, then worked as a biochemical engineer doing vaccine research and development before wine took hold. University of California, Davis gave him the formal frame; cellar work gave the method a slower material. At ONX Wines, where he was assistant winemaker from 2013 and later director of winegrowing, the vineyard and the finished bottle belonged to the same line of thought. At Merryvale, Graham Wehmeier taught him what Strekas has called “the basics of winemaking from the ground up,” along with a clean, refined style of Cabernet. At LXV Wine, that background reads less like a résumé than a way of making decisions, with Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Sangiovese handled inside a program that favors Bordeaux-style structure over theatrical weight.

Spice beside the red fruit

The tasting here turns on a deliberate pairing: premium Bordeaux-style wines set against exotic spice-infused cheese. That sounds like hospitality until the glass is in front of you; then it becomes a study in how aroma, fat, salt, and tannin change one another. Cabernet Franc can move differently beside spice than it does alone. Cabernet Sauvignon has another register when the palate has been primed by cheese. Sangiovese brings its own line of acid and grip. LXV Wine works at a stated small scale of 4500 cases/year, and the listed sourcing tags point to sustainable, dry-farmed work. The appellation named for the program is Willow Creek District AVA, a Paso Robles source associated here with still red wines rather than a broad, everything-at-once cellar. The clearest bottle markers attached to Strekas’s work include the 2018 LXV RESERVE NEBBIOLO, the 2020 LXV Sauvignon Blanc, the 2018 Cabernet Franc, and 2019 the Jewel. Those wines include named bottles, named varieties, and a maker whose training keeps the sensory exercise from becoming decoration.

Rooms built for a quiet pour

The room does not use grandeur to announce itself. LXV Wine’s downtown Paso Robles tasting lounge is described through color, softness, and close spacing: Indian-inspired decor, comfortable sofas, pillows, indoor lounges, and an outdoor patio. The blue room and cellar room give the tasting more than one tempo, letting the wine and spice pairing happen at a quieter pace than a crowded counter would allow. The noise level matters because this kind of tasting asks for attention. A small shift in aroma can disappear under chatter. Here, the intimate scale keeps the hand near the glass, the cheese near the wine, and the discussion near the material. Jeff Strekas’s technical discipline meets a hospitality idea that asks Cabernet Franc to sit beside spice, not above it.