Sextant Wines

Petite Sirah has an undeniable affinity with Paso Robles terroir resulting in wine with bold character amidst savory details. Deep velvety texture is highlighted by blueberry pie, prune, and toffee notes. Accents of fennel, brown sugar, and cinnamon along with a concentrated finish give this wine its regional flare and homespun charm.

Passage serves as a beautiful Syrah based blend between our Caverio and Portolan blends. Some of the finest Syrah, which is hand picked from our RBZ Vineyard, is the backbone to this bold blend. Grenache and Mourvèdre are added for complexity on the nose, while Petite Sirah helps build tannin. Aged for 20 months in new French and Hungarian, this wine is bottle aged for a year before its release, ensuring that it is ready to go as soon as it is in your hands! 94 points - Wine Enthusiast, December 2021

White wine varietals have always been difficult to grow in Paso Robles, but Grenache Blanc has proven time and time again it can stand up to our warmer summer temper¬atures. Grown in our estate RBZ Vineyard in the El Pomar district, we hand pick this small block, and go direct to press upon arrival at the winery. Slow, cool fermentation in stainless steel aids in preserving the fresh fruit aromas. Aged only five months in stainless steel, the Grenache Blanc is highlighted by bright acidity and fresh minerality.

On the northside of our estate RBZ Vineyard, sits a beautiful block of Grenache. We hand pick the Grenache when sugar and acid levels have reached a point that would generally line up with white grape harvesting practices. Higher acid and lower sugar help create a crisp, clean, and approachable rosé. After a quick foot stomping at the winery, we allow the juice to soak up color and flavor from the skins for about an hour before we go to the press. Fermented and aged in 100% stainless steel, we hope this is the perfect poolside rosé for beautiful summer afternoons!

Indigenous to the Rhone Valley, Roussanne grows incredibly well in our Paso Robles estate vineyard. Beautiful aromas of dried apricot and pineapple with highlights of guava and quince linger in the glass. The mouthfeel is crisp yet sizeable, with clean flavors of honeysuckle and melon, alongside light minerality.

Sourced from the highly acclaimed Santa Lucia Highlands region of Monterey County, the Sextant SLH Pinot Noir is an ode to Old World wines for New World palates. After a three day cold soak on the skins to help extract color and flavor, we inoculate with a special Pinot Noir specific yeast isolation. Fermented in an open top tank, we pump over this lot three times a day until fermentation has completed. A full secondary fermentation helps round out the mouthfeel. We aged this wine in about 20% new French oak to add spice and light tannin structure to the palate.

This wine is bold, stylish, and captivating. There are strong notes of dusty cocoa powder and mint. Intriguing hints of fresh strawberries, cherries, and vanilla add to its complexity as well. Smooth and supple tannins enable a finish that is steady and expressive.

This delicious Merlot opens with alluring aromas of raspberry, vanilla, star anise, and cinnamon. Flavors of Ruby Red apple and cherry pie, along with hints of baking chocolate, unfold beautifully on the palate. The tannins are upfront but not overbearing and develop into a velvety finish.

Tannat is a varietal marked by bright red fruits and lively acidity, and the 2019 Sextant Tannat holds true to this story. Market fresh cherries and strawberries immediately present themselves, with hints of fleshy rose petals showing as well. Bright cranberry like acidity opens up the palate, paired with soft and approachable tannins on the mid palate. The natural acidity of Tannat carries all the way through the palate, ending with a strawberry jam like finish.

Classically made, this lovely dry sparkling is a blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir hand-picked in the cool morning hours on the historic MacGregor Vineyard, the oldest still cultivated in the Edna Valley on California’s Central Coast. The berries were gently pressed before cold fermentation in small stainless-steel vessels. We selected and blended for tirage the following spring, adding a liqueur made of yeast and sugar to begin secondary fermentation in the bottle. The magic truly began when the bottles were carefully laid to rest within steel riddling cages in our cool, dark cellar where they slumbered for a full eight years before disgorgement and addition of the final dosage. Another nine months of bottle aging followed before this masterpiece of patience and determination was finally released – a sparkling wine of traditional French style unique to California.

With Genoa, we’ve conceived a wine that is truly unique to our legacy of winemaking at Sextant. Passed down through the vintages, this wine’s origin is ageless. Using the solera method popular in brandy making, we reserve two barrels of the finished blend, and barrel age them for an extra year before adding them to the next year’s blend, making up about 15% of the finished product. With the natural umph that Petite Sirah provides, this wine can stand up to this extra barrel aging, adding complex and exciting notes to each generation of Genoa.

Kamal has quickly become one of the most popular wines at Sextant. 100% of the fruit that goes into this Cabernet Sauvignon is hand picked off our vineyard in the El Pomar sub AVA of Paso Robles. Small Cabernet berries help lend natural dark color during primary fermentation. After fermentation the different Cabernet blocks are placed in a variety of new and used French oak and aged for 18 months. 93 points - Wine Enthusiast, December 2021

The Night Watch encompasses the beauty of Paso Robles Zinfandel blends, with hand-picked fruit sourced from our family owned RBZ Vineyard in the El Pomar sub-AVA. Our goal each year is to balance and showcase Zinfandel’s elegant fruit notes, Syrah’s rich dark aromas, and the bold structure of Petite Sirah. Each varietal is fermented and aged separately in a selection of new and used French, Hungarian, and American oak, then artfully combined into each unique vintage.

Some of the most beautiful, hand picked Bordeaux varietals off of our RBZ Vineyard go into the Octant blend. After aging in French oak for just over 18 months, the winemaking team goes through our different Bordeaux lots and selects the finest barrels to comprise this blend. 93 points - Wine Enthusiast, December 2021

Hand picked off of our RBZ vineyard in the El Pomar sub AVA of Paso Robles, the 2018 Caverio is 85% Grenache, 9% Mourvèdre, 6% Syrah. Each varietal is fermented and aged separately in a mix on new and used French and Hungarian oak. We were particularly happy with the way our Grenache showed this vintage, so we chose to blend in a small portion of Syrah for tannin and Mourvèdre to add depth to the aroma. Each varietal was barrel aged for 20 months before bottling, and we bottle age for nearly a year before release, enjoy!

The 2018 Portolan is the inaugural release of our estate Syrah cofermented with Viognier. At 2%, the Viognier helps bind color, tannin, and bring floral aromas to the Syrah. All hand picked and fermented in stainless steel, this lot is barrel aged in a mix of new and used French puncheon barrels for 18 months. An additional year of bottle aging before release helps ensure this wine is ready to go once it’s in your hands! 93 points - Wine Enthusiast, December 2021