The Paoloni Estate
- Paoloni is a family owned boutique production winery that sits on some of the best land on the northern side of the valley.
- Paolo lives at his vineyard site where he takes great pride in farming close to the earth, organic is just a starting point.
- All wines are made from his estate vineyards, which were planted in succession by Paolo Paoloni himself beginning in 1998. His vineyard sites are more sloped and rolling than most, as well as at a higher elevation than the majority of the valley. His higher elevation sites contain more granite in the soil which results in a higher minerality and less of the saline presence that some of the lower elevation vineyard sites in Valle de Guadalupe occasionally contain.
- Paolo's technique mirrors an old school Italian approach to wine making, which results in a wine with fresh minerality and complex wonderfully nuanced floral aromas.
Total production: 9 wines, 7,000 cases
2017 Aglianico - Paoloni
Tasting Notes and Drinking Window:
A red grape that does particularly well in northern Baja, (though is rarely planted), is Aglianico. Known mainly for it's reputation in robust wines from Southern Italy and Sicily, the grape shows extremely well in this climate and especially in Paoloni's vineyards. Paolo considers this one of his premium wines and what it delivers in the glass is most certainly that. Black cherry, white pepper, and plum mingle with more subtle notes of smoke and game. High tannins and excellent balance assure it will age well, but it is approachable now with a short decant.
500 cases made
Drinking window: Now (ideally with a small decant!) - 10-12 years
Vintage:
2017
Blend:
100% Aglianico
Producer:
Paoloni
Winemaker:
Paolo Paoloni - Italian born, now a Mexican citizen
Vineyards:
Valle de Guadalupe - Estate vineyards located approximately 10 miles from the Pacific on the northwest valley wall at an elevation of 1,200 ft. All orginial planting vines that were put to soil in 1997 that are direct rooted which makes them less vigorous and their fruit more concentrated. Soil is decomposed granite and red clay.
Winemaking:
Grapes were harvested by hand in the end of October and fermented over 3 weeks in stainless steel tanks then racked into 1st use French oak barrels and aged for 18 months.
Sulfites: 80 ppm
Farming:
Sustainable
Alcohol:
14%
