Nose
Savory aromas dominate this coastal Syrah’s initial perfume – black olive, roasted game, sage brush, eucalyptus, white pepper – then notes of blackberry, cassis, purple flowers, chocolate, and vanilla spice emerge, adding even more complexity.
Palate
he wine gently enters the palate offering a completely ethereal experience juxtaposed with its bolder aromas. Flavors are delicate and graceful, yet seamless and mouth-filling, as floral notes join the spicey black fruit and earth flavors and spread gently in all planes of the mouth, leaving no harsh edges, only massive sophistication.
Growing Conditions
The York Family, Paso wine pioneers and owners of this historic property for more than eighty years, planted vines on this land in 1882, making it one of the first vineyards on the central coast. Despite five name changes, prohibition, and the catastrophic San Simeon Earthquake, York Mountain Winery ran continuously for 119 years, making it one of the longest continuously run wineries in the United States. When we purchased the property in 2010, the site of the York family’s original vineyard was fallow, but we were eager to one day plants vines on these historic soils again.
In the spring of 2015, after much dreaming and planning, we began planting vines at this “cool climate” site (colder than Burgundy). Located just seven miles from the Pacific Ocean at an elevation of 1,500 feet, this property falls in the small 640 acre York Mountain AVA, which is outside of the very large Paso Robles AVA.
The soils and climate are very different than our other two vineyards. The combination of sandstone soils (some areas look like you are on the beach) with a very moderate climate due to the even closer proximity to the Pacific Ocean make this site quite the departure from our Paderewski and Catapult Vineyards. Because of its elevation and distance from the ocean, York Mountain receives more than twice the amount of rainfall as our other vineyards and has characteristic foggy mornings throughout the year with cool breezes all day long.
When deciding what to plant, we wanted to keep with what we know and love best, but we also decided to experiment a bit too. We planted mostly Syrah and Grenache with the hopes of crafting pure varietal expressions of these two Rhône grapes on our very different terroir. In addition, we grow a small amount of Viognier, Roussanne, Zinfandel, and for the first time ever, Cabernet. We love the spice, fresh fruit, and bright acidity York Mountain Vineyard brings out in these varieties.
