Our Prim­i­ti­vo is sourced from our Whale Rock vine­yard on the west side of Paso Rob­les and our Blind Faith vine­yard from the east side. Prim­i­ti­vo is a clone of Zin­fan­del import­ed from Italy, shar­ing many of Zin­fan­del’s char­ac­ter­is­tics, but often with a cracked pep­per spice. Petite Sir­ah was blend­ed to add some mouth­feel and over­all struc­ture. The Oak­en­shield wines are pro­duced to cel­e­brate the spir­it of the good life to be enjoyed with friends and fam­i­ly both past and present.

The com­bi­na­tion of weath­er, soils, and good organ­ic farm­ing makes for a lus­cious Prim­i­ti­vo. High ripeness is crit­i­cal to the suc­cess of this wine; how­ev­er, that can also lead to chal­lenges in the win­ery. Prim­i­ti­vo, at the brix we like to obtain, can some­times be reluc­tant to go dry and any resid­ual sweet­ness detracts from the com­plex­i­ty. Anx­ious mon­i­tor­ing of the fer­men­ta­tion is a giv­en. The aro­ma and fla­vor inten­si­ty of Prim­i­ti­vo, dimin­ished by exces­sive oak extract, means that only mod­er­ate oak aging is required: in this case just 12 months in Amer­i­can Oak. Petite Sir­ah, always an eli­gi­ble blender for Prim­i­ti­vo and Zin­fan­del, was incor­po­rat­ed for added struc­ture and mouthfeel.