Our Cabernet Sauvignon is from the Baldinelli Vineyard which was planted in 1972 on St. George rootstock. This is an old low bearing small berry/cluster clone. Yields are about 2-2 1/2 tons per acre. Our growing season is longer and cooler than what many might assume. It is comparable in many ways to the Howell Mountain region of the Napa Valley. Red, iron-laden soils of grainy decomposed granite. Warm days moderated by afternoon Delta breezes and cool night air from the high Sierra peaks just 50 miles to our East. Closer to harvest as the days become shorter, fruit cooled overnight takes half the day to warm again and matures slowly. Most of the grapes are fermented in 5 ton open top fermenters and hand punched. The remainder are fermented in a 10 ton closed top tank where the cap is irrigated with a special device during pumpovers. Lots are combined at a later date depending on the winemaker's discretion. Aging takes place in 100% French Bordeaux barrels from Taransaud cooperage. They are thin-staved Bordeaux-styled Center of France barrels and 50%-75% are brand new each year. The remainder of the barrels are from the two previous years vintages. The wine is in barrel for two years prior to bottling in the fall. The wine is aged further in bottle for several years until the time our winemaker deems the wine ready for drinking.

This is a beautiful, rich, and balanced Barbera. It has opulence, with a certain elemental juiciness, nuanced varietal character, and a silky finish. It drinks with dense, layered complexity, and persistence, stylistically similar to the new wave barrique Barberas being made in Italy's Piedmont region. It is aged in 100% French oak. Our Barbera is turning a lot of heads and is the only Cal-Ital that we produce. It seems exceptionally well suited to the soils and climate of the Shenandoah Valley where it is grown on a south-facing slope of the Cooper Ranch. The vineyard is about 25 years old. This is one of our most popular wines in the tasting room at the winery. Try it with tomato based sauces, Italian sausage and grilled vegetables, and pork or lamb with rosemary and garlic.

EASTON Zinfandel "Late Harvest"
Fiddletown - Rinaldi Vineyard

We are excited about our EASTON Late Harvest Zinfandel from the Rinaldi Vineyard in the Fiddletown appellation of Amador County. This is a historic site that dates to at least 1865 when it was called the Cox Vineyard. We make our regular bottling of Fiddletown Zin from this vineyard as well. We produce the Late Harvest only in years when the fruit lends itself to this style, and we leave one block of the vineyard to hang until the sugar reaches 30 ° plus brix. The wine still retains a sense of style and balance without overt dehydrated Zinfandel flavors. Rich, blackberry and dark chocolate flavors with an attractive white pepper spiciness that I like to get in most of my Zinfandels. We bottle the wine in a beautiful 500ml European bottle.

EASTON Zinfandel "Estate-Bottled",
Shenandoah Valley

Our estate-bottled Zinfandel originates from the two estate vineyards surrounding the winery, the old Dickson-Miller property and the Baldinelli property that was planted in the early 1970's. We choose the best from these vineyards for our top Zin bottling. Vines are head-trained and unirrigated. The vineyard is rigorously suckered for proper cluster spacing and sun exposure to get full flavor development.??Flavors are full, rich, smooth, and gutsy. The wine has huge brambly blackberry fruit, big cedar, spice box aromas and flavors. It has a smooth creamy finish from aging in François Frères and Taransaud barrels (1/3 new). This is classic Amador Zinfandel with both power and finesse.

Easton Zinfandel, Fiddletown
(Rinaldi-Eschen Vineyard)

These old vines barely provide a crop each year. The vineyard is about as old as they come in California with vines dating to the original planting in 1865. When you gaze on the vineyard on a cold Spring day after the vines have been pruned, the thousands of stout, thickly trunked vines are not unlike an amorphous Henry Moore sculpture, arms raised, pleading with the heavens for enough water to grow for another year. This vineyard is farmed with simplicity: pruning, plowing, and finally picking at the perfect time determined by our winemaker. Crop yields are incredibly low, 1- 1½ tons per acre. Every year the wines are different and a revelation. We do not blend this wine with other Zinfandels in our cellar. EASTON Fiddletown Zinfandel is always 100% Zinfandel from the Rinaldi-Eschen Vineyard. The finished wine has thick brambly blackberry fruit with pepper, anise, clove, and other exotic spices.. Fat and mouth filling, this Zin has great persistence on the palate. Like all our EASTON Zinfandels, this wine was aged in exclusively French oak and will hold well for 5-10 years.

Our popularly priced Amador County Zinfandel comes from 40-60 year old head pruned vines. These vineyards are planted on our beautiful, rolling mountain sites that have the classic, vermilion-colored, Amador decomposed granite soil. The finished wine has full black cherry and blackberry fruit aromas with a beautiful balance and a big, sumptuous, and juicy mouth feel. It also presents complex spicy aromas, with a nice creamy texture derived from the 10 months time it receives in French oak barrels. This wine has become our popular, but serious cru Beaujolais-styled Zinfandel that has found its way on to many great restaurant lists across North America where it is often listed "by the glass". It is consistently rated one of the top Zinfandels in its class and one of the best value Zins available. Although drinkable now, it gains complexity with bottle age. This wine's release each Fall has become highly anticipated by many of our customers.

EASTON "h" House, California

House or "H" is our fun, easy drinking everyday table wine composed of predominately Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon. Like the new wave wines of the Languedoc of Southern France, it is made from these two great grape varieties. House is what we like to sip on informal occasions. It is a café wine, a picnic wine, a boating wine, a great luncheon wine, a skiing wine, a wine to enjoy when you want a delicious glass of wine, but you don't want to think too much about it. House complements most Mediterranean and Californian cooking and it works well with other full flavored foods. Have a bottle open on the counter to relax with after work when other beverages just won't do the trick!

Easton Sauvignon Blanc
Monarch Mine Vineyard

Our Easton Sauvignon Blanc is made from grapes grown at the Monarch Mine Vineyard, overlooking the American River Canyon at 2,300 feet, near the town of Foresthill in Placer County. The four acres of vineyard at this site are planted to two different selections of Sauvignon Blanc: clone #1 and the Musque clone. We cold ferment this wine in a stainless steel tank and then age it for nine months in neutral French oak barrels on lees before bottling it in late May. The wine does not undergo malolactic fermentation and therefore retains its' delicious crispness. The enchanting fruit flavors suggest pineapple and melon and are complimented by a nice creamy mouth feel. The wine finishes with a wonderful minerality that speaks of the vineyard site. It is the perfect foil for all seafood and absolutely satisfying as an aperitif.