2020 Epoch Ingenuity

Based on 51% Petite Sirah, 25% Grenache, 22% Mourvèdre, and a tiny bit of Syrah, the 2020 Ingenuity spent 19 months in French oak barrels and puncheons. It's a fruit-loaded, opulent 2020 with more sex appeal and texture than just about every other wine in the vintage. Ripe red and blue fruits, spice, peppery herbs, and some chalky minerality (which always seems to be present in wines from this vineyard) define the aromas and flavors, and it's full-bodied, has a lush, rounded mouthfeel, ripe tannins, and a great finish. Drink this beauty over the coming 7-8 years. Epoch continues to pull heavily from their estate Paderewski Vineyard, but they’re also releasing new cuvées from their York Mountain estate as those vines come online. I expect this trend to continue. Looking at the wines reviewed here, I was able to taste all their 2020s now from bottle, and they’ve clearly produced some of the top wines in this challenging vintage. If there’s any smoke in these wines, I was unable to find it, and they have remarkable purity in their aromatics and ripe, polished tannins. I was also able to go through the 2021s with winemaker Jordan Fiorentini, and there are some legit genius wines in here that are as good as anything out there. I’d wager these 2021s are some of the finest wines produced from this estate, and I can’t wait to try them again from bottle next year.