2008 Epoch Ingenuity

The 2008 Ingenuity bursts from the glass with a rush of dark jammy fruit, spices, leather and licorice. It is at once opulent, yet beautifully balanced, with dazzling intensity in its fruit and soft, seamless finish. In 2008 the blend was 61% Syrah, 17% Grenache. The 2008 Ingenuity spent 22 months in French barrels, 32% new. Anticipated maturity: 2012-2020. Epoch is a new project headed by owners Bill and Liz Armstrong. The estate is made up of three major holdings. The first is Paderewski vineyard, which the Armstrongs purchased in 2005 and re-planted with the help of Justin Smith of Saxum, who also serves as consulting oenologist. This 300+ acre holding once belonged to celebrated musician and politician Ignacy Paderewski, one of the early pioneers in Paso Robles. So far, all of the Epoch wines have been made from Paderewski, which has a relatively warm microclimate. More recently, the estate added the 30-acre Catapult Vineyard, a cooler-climate site next to Booker Vineyard and purchased the York Mountain Winery, another historic property in Paso, that is currently undergoing renovations and that will become the estate’s winemaking facility. New vineyards will be planted here as well. Jordan Fiorentini runs the day to day winemaking. The wines are fermented with indigenous yeasts and bottled with no fining or filtration. Epoch is among the estates that uses concrete to ferment some of their wines. So far, Epoch has used concrete mostly for Grenache and Mourvedre. The 2009s were aged in French oak for 20-23 months, 30-45% new, depending on the wine. Fiorentini found the 2008s in the cellar when she arrived in 2010. She finished the elevage and made the final blends. The 2009s I tasted suggest her style is a bit more finessed driven, although some of that may be attributable to the vintage. It will be interesting to find out. In 2008 the estate suffered through frost and drought conditions with very little rain, both of which resulted in low yields. The 2009s are the result of a season that was mostly cool, until heat spikes in August caused sugars to rise quickly. The estate brought in all of their fruit before the October 13 downpour. Tel (805) 237-2011. www.epochwines.com

Wildly aromatic, with huge violet, bramble, pepper, and spicy notes, the 2008 Epoch Estate Wines Ingenuity Paderewski Vineyard, a blend of 61% Syrah, 17% Grenache, 14% Petit Sirah, and 8% Mourvedre that was aged for 22 months in 32% new French oak, possesses stunningly pure black and blue fruits, full body, a seamless, gorgeous texture, and a very long finish. As with this estate’s other ‘08s, this holds on to an elegant, balanced, pure character, and should have a solid decade or more of prime drinking.