One of my New Year's resolutions was to drink no bad wines in 2016 and this wine was no exception! Living in Napa Valley, it is a refreshing departure to sip some of the great wines that our fellow wine region to the South, Paso Robles, has to offer. I first tasted the Epoch Estate wines with the inaugural 2007 vintage of their three Rhone-style blends: Ingenuity, Authenticity and Veracity that were beautiful expressions of balance and harmony between fruit, tannin, structure, extraction and finish. So when I saw the 2010 Estate Blend at our local wine shop, I didn't hesitate to pick one up.

Aromas of stewed strawberries and prunes with a touch of tobacco enter the nose while baking spices of nutmeg and cinnamon burst forth onto the palate before vanilla extract and butterscotch leave an indelible mark on the mind of the taster...one that I know will last through 2019 and beyond!