88 POINTS - Wine Enthusiast

SILVER - Central Coast Wine Competition

2020 Sculpterra Paso Pink Rosé wine is a beautiful pink-red in the glass, bursting with the freshest aromas possible! There are nuances of fresh apple flavors on this wine's nose creating a sense of a larger tasting mouthfeel to follow. The palate offers tons of tropical play as well as classic ripe strawberries. It finishes smooth and off-dry, with lovely length and a continuing puckering taste that leaves you wanting more and more! My favorite fruit aromas offered in this wine are the constant notes of dried orange-peel with guava and tangerine accents. Lastly, it has depth and I am suggesting that 1-2 years in bottle is possible for this gem but please drink it now for the freshest experience imaginable.

93 POINTS - Tasting Panel 

Our 2019 all estate grown Pinot Noir is an impressive wine, jam-packed with fresh easy drinking red fruit aromas, subtle bouquets of earthy spice and finishes smooth and plush. Grown on the east-side of Paso Robles in the El Pomar District this ripe Pinot Noir offers more intense fruit flavors while still maintaining charming acidity and classic French style Pinot Noir notes. My favorite flavors of this wine are centered around black cherry, vanilla, wet stone and even a slight hint of cedar smoke. The mid-palate is highlighted by flavors of pomegranate and candied berries. Floral notes, like dried lilac and lavender, meet with its strawberry driven core in the mouth. The tannins are subtle and well-integrated, helping the wine’s textures and ensuring that this wine will age for years down the road. 

Our 2020 Héroe Pinot Noir it’s a medium bodied yet ripper style wine and shows off dense strawberry and black-cherry fruit. The color is concentrated and brilliant brick-red in the glass. This wine is highlighted by cocoa and coffee grounds in the mid-palette. The finish trails out through a lingering, captivating mouthfeel, the acid is very present and fresh. Overall, this wine is Intensely aromatic, rich scents of ripe red fruit, like strawberry and melon are in the foreground. These fruity aromas follow, through with appealing spices and a thread of mineral earth. This wine is a great example of Paso Robles Pinot Noir done right; it’s lengthy and compelling, with short-medium aging potential.

GOLD - Central Coast Wine Competition

The 2020 Grenache has a beautiful color with vibrant, garden-fresh and perfumery aromas finishing with a burst of harmonious pomegranate and raspberry jam. The combination of 3 different regional oak barrels creates a distintive arrangement of red fruits with a gillled woody taste. Roasted almonds, vanilla, nutmeg, dark chocolate, and even maple syrup blend nicely and compliment the lighter fruit and spice. Our Grenache is rapidly becoming our most awarded and sought-after red wine!

2019 Héroe Primitivo wine is exciting, new, fresh and vibrant with complex aromas and bouquets. The addition of 13% Cabernet Franc gives this wine tannic textures, deep rich color, and a dark berry flavored backbone. I taste extracted aromas of black cherry, freshly picked strawberry, and even gingerbread. The mouthfeel contains baking-spice flavors that come through nicely on every sip. Abundant flavors of baked plum, raspberry, and chocolate-cherry flavors are balanced and inviting. Drink this wine upon release, or for best results wait until 2025 when it will assuredly be at its peak.

SILVER - Orange County Wine Society

This 100% Primitivo wine is medium to full-bodied and well-built showing classic briary aromas followed by cherry-berry flavors that are both harmonious and savory in personality. The red brick color shows the heightened and healthy acidity in the wine’s makeup. Overall, I’d say it's complex and unique, underlining notes of black pepper and dried herbs are the perfect pairing for this wine’s upfront flavors of long-lasting blackberry and raspberry aromas. The integration of 25% New American Oaks, is offering bouquets of smoke, grilled meats, vanilla, butterscotch and even candied Christmas Mints!  Again, this wine is fruit driven, easy-to-drink and abundantly pleasant. It’s generous and rich in style, and has a good pinch of tannins in the texture. These present tannins will undoubtedly help in its bottle development for many years to come.

DOUBLE GOLD & BEST OF CLASS - Central Coast Wine Competition

91 POINTS - Wine Enthusiast  

Our all estate grown fruit for this 2018 Reserve Primitivo is blended with 13% Petite Sirah, and is abundantly fruit-driven with compelling spice bouquets. The aromas are generously juicy, with graceful dried fruit that highlights this unique wine. Made in a big, robust and full-bodied fashion and lavish style, this wine offers structure and layers of cola, berry, plum, dark cherry and a lasting twist of oregano and black pepper. Overall, it’s a hearty wine with hints of earthy tones, black olive, blackberry and even ripe strawberry. It is a big wine yet the mouthfeel is soft, and well-integrated tannins provide a footing of weight and space. The finish is intense yet clean with teases of dried herbs with black licorice mingling with lasting acidity. This is a wine to age, hold onto it at least till 2028 for peak performance.

GOLD & 91 POINTS - Sunset International Wine Contest

This wine is truly remarkable and one of a kind. Again, for me this was so exciting from start to finish, as this vintage was our first time making wine from this amazing little west-side Paso Robles vineyard. Let’s start with the color, it’s so dark, especially for a Zinfandel, the hue is almost black and it coats the glass with each swirl. The nose is fantastic, loaded with dark plum, and robust smells of blackberry and raisin. By no means is this wine over ripe, on the contrary it is balanced with front, mid, and back palate textures. There's a hefty amount of baking spice bouquets and the mouthfeel is just a wonderful experience to behold. This wine is undoubtedly an age-able candidate, I’d give it a good ten years before it’s reaching its peak. Don’t let that stop you, drink it now and hold on for a wild ride! 

Our 100% Cabernet Franc is made very traditional and true to the varietal. The flavors represent Cabernet Franc at its best, combining green peppery notes with dark fruits and dynamic acidity and tannins. Roasted aromas of red currants and strawberry congregate with peppered meats, jalapeño, and seared tomatoes. There's a captivating amount of tension to the palate, where a good volume of herbal green bouquets are then embellished by dark-plum and chocolate accents. I love the fresh feel of this wine! It’s easy to spot green mint flavors that quickly turn into tiny wild berries and dried cranberries in the mid-palate. Terroir flavors of slate, dried meats and a hint of lemon zest make this wine lively and very fresh. The wine shows off generous acidity, finishing dry and tannic. Rest assured this wine can age for a good 10+ years! I think it will reach its peak in the year 2030. 

GOLD & 91 POINTS - Toast of the Coast Wine Contest

GOLD - Rodeo Wine Contest

Héroe Cabernet Sauvignon is made ready-to-drink! It can age as well, but tastes amazing at this young age, showcasing fruity tones intermingled with herbal goodness. It is made entirely from grapes estate-grown on Frankel Family Vineyards, in the “Puerta Electrica” block. This vineyard is most known for developing elements of spice, basil leaf and mineral qualities that express themselves wonderfully in this charming wine. It opens up with brambly blackberry, followed by strawberry and darker tones of roasted almonds and toasted oak. It’s animated with earthy tones yet powerfully structured and dazzling in bright red fruits and dried herbs. Overall, this wine is soft and supple, giving forth elements of blueberry and a dash of mocha coffee. It certainly has a broad appeal with terrific palate balance and finesse in its lingering finish.

SILVER - Sunset International Wine Contest

SILVER - Rodeo Wine Contest, & SILVER - Orange County Wine Society

Our 100% estate grown and bottled 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon displays intense dark fruit flavors followed by a wonderful note of herbs and cloves. This wine possesses classic Cabernet charm with traditional aromas. My favorite part is the high-toned structure, well-integrated oak, and tannic finish. This wine is a slight blend, featuring 90% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Cabernet Franc, it remains soft and supple on the palate, with dense red fruit, baking spice and just a suggestion of New French Oak. Overall, this wine is generously expansive and opulent, round in the mouth, with a focused center of black cherry, licorice and olive. The rich fruit is complemented by notes of cranberry pie crust, and a dusting of cocoa powder. This wine is lengthy and structured and will be tasting its best in 2022 – 2030.

Sculpterra's 100% estate grown and produced Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon shows off flavors of chocolate truffle, ripe black olive, crushed violet, mature blueberry and spiced candied aromas that mix seamlessly together on this full-bodied age worthy classic! This wine’s smooth palate offers ripe blueberry, hints of raspberry jam, with blackberry and clove aromas, all of which are further interrupted with bouquets of smoked sausage. 

GOLD & 92 POINTS - Sunset International Wine Contest  

This iconic bottling, which honors master resident blacksmith Robert Bentley is from a tiny vineyard in the valley floor, and produces less than 3.0 tons per acre. This small vineyard with its unique head-trained, cane pruned trellis, creates Sculpterra’s most sought after Cabernet wines year-after-year. The taste is incredible and begins with aromas of Bing-cherry, ripe figs, roasted almonds, clove and vanilla. This impressively structured wine is blended with just 13% Petite Sirah, and adds a robust and fiery blackberry jam note on the finish. The midpalate is easy drinking and offers flavors of chocolate, tobacco, lavender and dried herbs. Elegantly yet tense tannins make this wine very ageable. The finish stays quite fresh with notes of green olive and Greenleaf mint. The oak is very well integrated and provides framing for a wine that delivers many dark fruit tones. This wine should be cellared and stored for proper ageing; it should reach its prime by 2030.

Sculpterra’s 2019 Petite Sirah is a huge tasting wine, coated with loads of dark fruit tones and rich chocolate accents. Exceptional complexity and nuance are what make this full-bodied, deep and opaque wine such a standout. The color is amazing! It’s hard to imagine a wine as dark as this one. Enchanting bouquets of earthy spice, cigar, and blackberry syrup lead to layered blueberry pie and woody BBQ flavors. The wine finishes on a velvety layer of fine-grained tannins that covers the palate. The taste is deeply saturated and immensely concentrated. Again, the wine is tannic and dry, but still comes off velvety and generous. Touches of vanilla and lavender help guide this wine’s finish. Best through at least 2030.

This fruit driven Primitivo Port displays aromas of ripe fig and caramel with chocolate undertones. A non-vintage blend, contacting 5 years of Primitivo Port. This Port Style wine has everything you look for in dessert wine. It’s packed with aromas of ripe fig, rich chocolate, raspberry truffle, and toasted jam. This wine’s bouquet displays caramel apple and nuts, with a tender sweet and balanced finish. The wine can be enjoyed now, but will further evolve over the next 8 to 15 years. Sold in a 500ml bottle.