Nose
Soaring aromatics balanced
between fruit sweetness and savory element added by the
stem retention.
Palate
The palate weight is tremendous with
plenty of fruit tannin framing the finish.
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.
Capturing the essence of the land’s rugged terrain, Outpost creates world-class 100% varietal bottlings of Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, Petite Sirah and Grenache from our own hand-cultivated, organically farmed 28 acre estate vineyard.
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.
In 2006, we broke our small lot of Grenache into two
parcels to try out different levels of whole cluster
fermentation. We treated one lot our traditional way
with 50% stems while keeping a separate lot to
experiment with 100% whole cluster. Both went to
barrel in the oldest Burgundy barrels in the winery.
Aging
100% 2-5 year old French oak barrels
Appearance
The wine is light in color.
