The Winery Ten years, seven vintages, and two estate vineyard plantings passed before we had our own winery. While we are so thankful for the years spent building the Epoch name and honing our winemaking style at Denner’s facilities (a winery peer down the road), we were beyond ecstatic to move into our own winery days before Harvest 2014 began. Our super-swanky winery is an impressive intersection of rustic elegance and modern architecture. Nestled into the oak covered hills of York Mountain, the 17,000 square foot state-of-the-art winery slips seamlessly into its surroundings. To ensure the natural beauty was not obstructed, we placed most of the winery beneath the earth by utilizing a cut-and- cover method. This allows the winery to literally blend into the landscape, and in turn, provides our barrel room with natural temperature control – a win, win for all! Weighing in at 14,000 pounds each, ten handcrafted, board-formed concrete tanks rest atop a cast-in- place concrete ledge within the sleek fermentation room. Designed for function with visual appeal, each tank boasts a conical shape (inside and out), allowing greater cap compression for the fermenting fruit. Each of the handcrafted tanks is fitted with glycol tubes running through the five-inch thick walls, providing flexibility for fermenting or aging wines. Jordan worked side-by-side with local tank manufacture, Micah Utter of Vino Vessel, to bring these big boys to life.
Six stainless steel tanks were also specifically designed for our space. These tanks give the winemaking team the ability to ferment, age, and blend prior to bottling. So as not to obstruct the elegance of the sixteen custom tanks, the winery strategically placed the catwalk and railings behind the vessels and installed a safety harness fall protection system to preserve the beauty of these one-of-a-kind tanks. The awe-inspiring barrel room is naturally cooled by the mass of earth surrounding the unique cast- in-place, board-formed concrete that makes up the ceiling, walls, and floors. Two oculi skylights are strategically placed to allow the natural daylight to filter into the room. This area is not only a place to store aging wine, it also lends Jordan a warming/ cooling room to jumpstart wines that may need a little help from a temperature change. The entire winery has been integrated with night cooling. To keep in line with our sustainable strategies, we are also equipped with a photovoltaic system that provides 95% of our energy. These components, coupled with the natural daylight, allows the terroir of York Mountain to mingle with the terroir that our grapes exude when brought into the winery. We believe that terroir is not just at the vineyard site; terroir is also found where we craft the wines. These deliberate and desired elements continue to give the winemaking team the creativity and flexibility necessary to make the crazy delicious wines for which we are known.
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