About Quest Cabernet Sauvignon 2021 Paso Robles:
Quest is a wine that aims to express the increasingly recognized potential and excitement of Paso Robles. It is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc that showcases the luscious softness and depth produced in our mountainous, oak-studded, maritime-influenced home.
Both noble grapes thrive in Paso’s semi-arid, rocky soils, and this wine is fruit-forward, with a toasty vanilla finish and grippy tannins. Quest has been aged in American oak barrels, yet displays an inherent softness. It reflects the region’s richly diverse terrain, where hidden pockets of exceptional vineyards account for its unique character
Tasting Notes:
The Quest Cabernet Franc Blend is an exciting and unique wine. This blend displays a beautiful herbaceous nose of anise seed, warm chocolate, and fresh mint. On the palette flavors of black fruit, dark chocolate, and slightly earthy nuance of leather are present. On the finish, soft fine tannins leave a light coat on the palette and mingle with a delicate touch of acidity that balance the wine allowing the flavors to linger.
Barrel Selection:
Aged individually in used American oak barrels. Then blended together and put into 65% New American oak barrels for an additional 3 months. Total of 11 months in oak
Growing Notes:
The 2021 growing season was very typical through early spring with warm days and cool nights. Early summer through harvest gave some unexpected heatwaves but plenty of marine breezes and mild weather prevailed. The result was a slight delay of harvest while we waited for acidity, pH and brix to balance creating mature flavors.
The source of Quest Cabernet Sauvignon is from four of winery’s favorite districts in the area:
- The Estrella district, with its loamy and gravely river plain slopes and canyons.
- The San Miguel district with large rolling hills situated on ancient river plains’ edge and riverbanks that possess an intriguing blend of soils with both loam, gravel and calcareous deposits.
- The Geneseo district, in the heart of the ancient river plains and boasting rich loamy soils.
- The Paso Robles Highlands district, where ancient seabed calcareous soils are integrated with gravely soils.
Cabernet Franc is sourced from vineyards in the Creston district, known for its large daily diurnal swings aided by the Templeton Gap maritime afternoon breezes and gravely soils, and the Paso Robles Highlands district.
Harvest Dates: 9/29, 10/11, 11/4, 11/8, 11/10/2021
Winemaking Notes:
The Cabernet & Cabernet Franc are harvested and fermented individually by vineyard lots and then aged in used American oak barrels. The lots were racked twice during barrel ageing, blended together and put into 65% New American oak barrels for an additional 3 months. Just prior to bottling the wine is filtered. The 2021 Quest Red Wine was aged for a total of 11 months in oak, blended in summer of 2022 and bottled in late September of 2022
About The Winery:
Austin Hope, winemaker and heir of the Hope Family Vineyards, launched his eponymous label in 2000 with a focus on Rhône varieties. In 2017, he expanded his range with Cabernet Sauvignon from Paso Robles. Hope is dedicated to producing wines of exceptional quality that accurately reflect the region’s terroir.
The vineyards that are the source for Quest truly are a quest for the maker. They are constantly in search of the best sites for each varietal. Soils drive the hunt for vineyards that will drive the varietal characteristics they’re looking for and they found them in some known and unknown areas of the Paso Robles region.
Visiting these vineyards is a journey. All are located 20-50 miles from one another. Backroads and dirt roads are the only way to these vineyards. Crossing over cattle guards and through locked gates are the norm.