Palate

This extended age version of our 2020 Epoch White is the same blend as our earlier bottling, just aged a bit longer in French oak foudre, and thus boasts a weightier palate with more umph. The extra aging gifts us a seriously complex and layered wine with exuberant and inviting flavors of green mango, grilled pineapple, yellow peach, wet gravel, vanilla bean, honey, and brioche toast. The palate is lush and round with flavors evenly flowing between fruit, minerals, and oak, and ending with a slight up-tick in texture on the back palate, which corsets all the complex character into a gorgeous, long finish.

Growing Conditions

Parentage: 56% Catapult and 44% Paderewski Vineyards

Stomping Grounds: Shale and limestone-studded hillsides of all exposures

Paderewski Vineyard:

Travel just west of Paso Robles, and you will find Paderewski Vineyard: 67 acres of undulating, steep, limestone rich hillsides within 570 rural, spring-fed acres. In the early 1900’s, this vineyard was cherished and farmed by world-renowned pianist, Polish diplomat, and vintner, Ignacy Jan Paderewski. Fast forward a century, and this property stood forgotten and fallow. Lucky for us, in 2004, we became the stewards of this amazing piece of property.

Planted: 2004 Acreage: 95 under vine, 570 total Soils: limestone, calcareous, rocky pH: low to mid 8 AVA: Paso Robles District: Willow Creek Red Varietals: Grenache, Mourvedre, Petite Sirah, Syrah, Tempranillo, and Zinfandel White Varietals: Grenache Blanc, Picpoul Blanc, and Viognier

Catapult Vineyard:

Directly in the heart of the Paso Robles’ Templeton Gap, near the acclaimed L’Aventure and Booker Vineyards, sits our Catapult Vineyard. In 2008 we came across 45 barren acres of extreme rocky soils packed with silicious shale and little limestone content. Just the type of soils we love; soils that encourage the vines to struggle while finding nourishment deep within the ground. The reward of this hardworking vine are berries packed with wicked complexity and intense flavors.

Though barely three miles from our Paderewski Vineyard, the pH level at Catapult Vineyard is in the high 5’s. A nice complement to the dirt over at “Rewski”. This pH difference, coupled with the cooler mesoclimate at Catapult allows for different flavor profiles from the fruit produced.

Planted: 2008 Acreage: 28 under vine, 45 total Soils: shale, clay, silt, rocky pH: high 5s AVA: Paso Robles District: Willow Creek Red Varietals: Grenache, Mourvèdre, Syrah, and Tempranillo White Varietals: Grenache Blanc,Roussane, and Viognier

Harvest

September 13, 2017

Bottling

Graduation: Bottled June 24, 2021 (unfined, unfiltered) | Debut: Holiday Release 2021

Winemaking

Rearing: Fermented cool in concrete tulip, concrete eggs, and French oak foudre & barrels

Aging

Aged four months sur lie: 27% concrete, 32% foudre, and 31% French oak barrels and puncheons (10% new), then all racked to foudre and two barrels for five months extended aging