The Signal

A Local tour of Calendar Epoch’s inner sanctum

- Carl

Over the years, Terry and I have been blessed by several wineries who have responded enthusiast­ically to our requests to host a tasting for the Santa Clarita Valley Boys and Girls Club.

These have been so successful and the wineries so generous that the tastings cumulative­ly have raised over $300,000 for our local youth.

Epoch Winery and its winemaker, Jordan Fiorentini, conducted an especially memorable evening for us. It was January 2020, a mere two months before the globe went into COVID crisis mode.

As all the guests that night anticipate­d, Jordan’s wines excelled. But then she did something that made Epoch stand out. She offered a weekend at the winery with accommodat­ions and a private tour and barrel tasting with her, as well as a thorough tasting of past vintages of Epoch.

Well, our friends, Pat and Jim Hansen, and ourselves knew we had to take advantage of that special treat. So, after some fierce bidding, we wound up being able to experience an amazing weekend.

We got to Epoch at noon on Friday. Jordan greeted us warmly and then spent two hours giving us a thorough introducti­on to Epoch’s operations as well as its wines maturing slowly and gracefully before bottling.

We started with the 2022 viognier. It featured peach and other stone fruit flavors. Very fruitforwa­rd with a long finish and aromas of gardenia. To us amateurs, it tastes like it was ready to bottle right now. But Jordan said it still needed another year to round and finish out. The viognier was tasted from stainless steel tanks.

One thing to note about Epoch is that it provides all of the fruit used for all of its wines. That means that every bottle is estate-grown, a rare trait.

Jordan proudly discussed the numerous ways that Epoch is forging new methods for making its wine. She pointed out not just the steel tanks but also the concrete eggs. These different vessels used to mature the wine allow the grapes to express themselves differentl­y than if only oak is used.

For instance, she poured us a sample of the 2021 Sensibilit­y. It’s a grenache that she retrieved from one of the concrete receptacle­s known as a cement tulip. The nose was quite pronounced, featuring berries and cherries. The coffee flavor was distinct, with a mild acidic finish. Yes, it’s

 ?? Photo courtesy of Terry Kanowsky ?? Carl Kanowsky (left) and Jordan maker at Epoch Winery. Theatres • Santa Clarita Signal
Fiorentini, wine
Photo courtesy of Terry Kanowsky Carl Kanowsky (left) and Jordan maker at Epoch Winery. Theatres • Santa Clarita Signal Fiorentini, wine
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KANOWSKY

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