2022 Héroe Primitivo
2021 Héroe Primitivo is steady, fresh, medium-bodied and mouth-watering with layers of fruit goodness. It’s the perfect partner for BBQ spare ribs or lamb shank with mint sauce. It shows an excellent concentration of fruits while its flinty accents bring density to this subtly tannic and dry red wine. The palate possesses bold ripe strawberry and raspberry flavors that stay on to the finish. At 26% new American Oak, it’s easy to pull out bouquets of cedar, clove, coconut, and black coffee. My favorite part about this wine is that it is approachable, soft, lovely and steady, well still providing intriguing taste of classic Primitivo dark red fruits and herbal qualities. Enjoy this wine right from the bottling line or let it age for the next 2-3 years for further bottle aging that is sure to develop increased flavors with soft and savory notes.
2021 Héroe Primitivo is steady, fresh, medium-bodied and mouth-watering with layers of fruit goodness. It’s the perfect partner for BBQ spare ribs or lamb shank with mint sauce. It shows an excellent concentration of fruits while its flinty accents bring density to this subtly tannic and dry red wine. The palate possesses bold ripe strawberry and raspberry flavors that stay on to the finish. At 26% new American Oak, it’s easy to pull out bouquets of cedar, clove, coconut, and black coffee. My favorite part about this wine is that it is approachable, soft, lovely and steady, well still providing intriguing taste of classic Primitivo dark red fruits and herbal qualities. Enjoy this wine right from the bottling line or let it age for the next 2-3 years for further bottle aging that is sure to develop increased flavors with soft and savory notes.
2022 Héroe Primitivo is an incredible wine offering a ripe red fruit taste, toasted oak, and a generous mouthfeel on the finish. The nose offers candied plums and cherry cola, but more potent notes of cedar, smoke, and all-spice come in as well. The palate is enhanced with cherries and candied red apple aromas. The bouquets show flavors of marshmallow and salty dark chocolate. I love the supple tannic grip that leads to crisp fruit and ample acid. This wine is a great partner with roasted lamb and or a classic American hamburger with all the fixings. Well-built and layered with black-fruit flavors, this massive balanced wine offers blueberries and black-pepper flavors. The wine tastes amazing young but will cellar well and only improve with age.
All fruit was destemmed, fermented, and barreled at Sculpterra Winery. The wine is a blend of 92% Primitivo and 8% Cabernet Franc. Frankel Vineyard’s Cabernet Franc adds a fantastic taste of jalapeno pepper and herbal spices and frames the wine with hefty tannins. In total, this blend is made of three lots, two Primitivo wines and one Cabernet Franc wine. We fermented each lot as separate wines; a unique yeast and barrel program was implemented for each one making the resulting blend complex and balanced. Primitivo was taken from the Frankel Family Estate, and the other from Camp 8 Road Vineyards in Creston, CA. The Frankel Vineyard lot is all new oak and offers HUGE notes of vanilla, chocolate, and BBQ accents. Camp 8 Road Primitivo aged in 500L neutral barrels shows much more vineyard aromas of cherry and hints of green olive, sagebrush, and cherry pie. I elected to bottle this wine young after a total of 10 months in the barrel.
In total, 645 cases were bottled in late August 2023.
| Download Wine Notes |
| Vintage | 2022 |
| Varietal | Primitivo |
| Varietal Composition | 92% Primitivo, 8% Cabernet Franc |
| Appellation | Paso Robles |
| Vineyard | Frankel Family Estate |
| Acid | 0.63 g/100 ml |
| PH | 3.55 |
| Residual Sugar | 0.05 g/100 ml |
| Alcohol | 15.60% |
| Volume | 750 ml |
| Bottling Date | 08/17/2023 |
| Cases Produced | 645 |
2022 was a historic vintage for Paso Robles for many reasons. For one, severe heat pushed the harvest almost a full month early, and then early fall rains showed up, interrupting the picking! We meet the challenges of 2022 head-on, and this wine is a direct result of our hard work, quick action, and flexibility to be open-minded and creative. I love this Primitivo wine; it contains so much character and a true taste of the land where it was grown. Héroe, Sculpterra's alternate brand, is dedicated to the hard-working vineyard and winery workers. The label officially started in 2011 and honors the unrecognized backstage workers. The grapes for this wine are grown in two vineyards: The Frankel Family Estate and Camp-8 Road. The blend of the vineyards creates “the best of both worlds,” where two mesoclimates are combined, producing a wine with sophistication, balance, and power. These vineyards are hand-worked and manicured from pruning, shoot-thinning, leaf dropping, and of course, hand harvesting. We harvested early, bringing all three grapes in in early September 2022.
