Palate
Balancing drinkability and intellectual interest, this
wine has reached a nice place after six months in bottle. There’s just enough
tannin upfront to reveal its hillside origins but a dense, black-fruited core
almost overwhelms the structure making the wine immensely pleasurable
now. The multiple layers reveal crushed rock, blue and black fruits, graphite
and white flowers.
Growing Conditions
Outpost was established in 1998 with the vision of producing wines that are a living, breathing embodiment of this magical place. Truly one of the world’s great Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel growing regions, the unique terroir of the Outpost vineyards – the hard, rocky red soil, high altitude, gentle cooling breezes and sunny western exposure – produces fruit of incredible intensity and richness, with a distinctive spice you simply cannot find anywhere else.
Winemaking
Outpost grapes are harvested late in the season – by hand, at dawn – to preserve the full intensity and distinctive spicy character of the mountain fruit. The grapes are processed with as little manipulation as possible. Grapes from each block within the vineyard are fermented separately so that our winemaking team can be very selective about the lots that comprise the final blend. Wines are neither fined nor filtered allowing for the full expression of the vintages’ potential
Blending this wine is becoming harder every year as we see vine maturity
increase at the estate. With now mature blocks of clone 6 and a clone we
call Jenkins in the mix we have 7 or 8 lots to consider every vintage.
Ultimately in one of the most marathon blending sessions we’ve ever had,
only 4 made the cut.
Aging
100% New French Oak Barrels
