Epoch Block B 2015
- jd98
- v96
- wa95+
- ws94
- we93
Category | Red Wine |
Varietal | |
Brand | Epoch |
Origin | California, Central Coast, Paso Robles |
Alcohol/vol | 15.2% |
Jeb Dunnuck
- jd98
The 2015 Block B comes all from block 13 of the estate Paderewski Vineyard and is all Syrah that spent 19 months in 75% new French oak. I wrote "awesome" more than once in my notes and this deep, backward, almost primordial Syrah sports an inky purple color, sensational notes of black fruits, charred earth, iodine, graphite, and beef blood, full body, and a layered, balanced, seamless texture. It's another wine that's up with the crème de la crème of the vintage. Give bottles 1-3 years and it should cruise for a decade.
Vinous
- v96
(fermented in new French oak puncheons and aged for 19 months in new and used French oak casks of varying size) Deep lurid purple. Intensely perfumed black and blue fruit preserve, potpourri and exotic spice aromas, along with hints of woodsmoke, vanilla and candied flowers. Velvety, seamless and broad on the palate, offering deeply concentrated black currant, boysenberry, violet pastille and spicecake flavors that become livelier with aeration. Rich yet surprisingly energetic, finishing bright and alluringly sweet, with supple tannins, lingering florality and superb, spicy persistence.
Wine Advocate
- wa95+
The 2015 Block B Syrah is one of the most impenetrably rich and powerful wines in the range, unfurling in the glass with brooding aromas of dark fruits, grilled meat, smoke, bay leaf and scorched earth. On the palate, it's full-bodied, layered and massively concentrated and extracted, with huge reserves of depth and energy, and a long, savory finish. It's going to need some time, but its upside should be considerable.
Wine Spectator
- ws94
Bold and expressive yet retains a sense of finesse, offering floral, licorice, blackberry and smoky beef flavors that gain speed toward polished tannins. Drink now through 2025. 312 cases made.
Wine Enthusiast
- we93
Roasted plum, toasted wood and rich coffee aromas show on the nose of this bottling from the vineyard named after the famous composer who once owned this slice of land west of Paso Robles. The palate is tightly wound and full of acid, offering flavors of smoky charred wood, rich black plum and black cherry.