Bottle of Wine From Eos Estates- They Finally Define An Identity
The winemakers in the Paso Robles AVA make a great bottle of wine, and we’ve not written about them much even though it’s a favorite place for us to sample California wine. Since it is wine club delivery season, we’ll review one of the wineries in this area, Eos Estates, whose shipment just arrived.
Eos is part of the Foley Family of wine, brands like Firestone, Chalk Hill, Clifford Bay, Kuleto Estate, Lincort, Merus, Three Rivers and Vavasour. Eos Estates Winery was formally on the south side of Highway 46 and privately owned, but went bankrupt several years back.
Bill Foley immediately jumped on the brand, vanquished the tasting room and rebranded his Firestone Winery across the street as Eos Estate Winery. Foley is famous for describing his acquisition plans in the Wall Street Journal, that he was looking for good wineries run by older winemakers who failed to plan for their retirement. If they had no children to whom they could hand over the keys, he was ready to write a check.
‘Eos winery facility has been closed since the beginning of the C19 Pandemic and has recently been sold to Halter Ranch.’
Over the past couple of years the brand has looked for an identity, and frankly, a style of wine that was interesting. We’ve tasted some of their wines and seen some very different brand identity schemes. Nothing ever seemed to coalesce, nothing ever tasted very interesting. Every time we received a bottle of wine the taste was different, as were the labels. Our personal favorite was wine that showed up sporting two socks on the label (the wine inside was better than the label.)
The latest iteration of their wine sports what would appear to be wings, similar to what you’d see on the back of a Hell’s Angels jacket, or perhaps their tattoos. But in the world of wine, terrior, tannin & grape, they resemble Eos the Greek Goddess of the Dawn. She’s the sister of Helios, God of the Sun, and also sister to Selene, Goddess of the Moon. So, the wing theme seems to fit the name, the romanticism and mysticism of a good winery.
Their wine tasting room sits on the corner of Highway 46 and Airport Road. It’s always been a nice facility and we’ve always enjoyed our visits.
What have we tasted, and enjoyed? Here goes:
2009 French Connection (a blend of Cab, Merlot, Malbec & Petit Verdot) $25 ✰+
2008 Paso Robles Zinfandel $18 ✰+
2008 Cabernet Sauvignon $20 ✰
2008 Petite Sirah $20 ✰+
2011 Wolcott Reserve Zinfandel – Dry Creek Valley $30 ✰+
They make Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Muscat Canelli, but being red wine lovers we don’t qualify to rank them, as they don’t match our palates. Their value priced Zins from Paso Robles have always been a favorite of ours.
You’ll find their Chardonnay, Zinfandel Port and Moscato at BevMo. Total Wine carries their Petite Sirah and Paso Robles Cabernet.
Bill Hodge & Erin O’Neill-Hodge enjoy a good bottle of wine, visiting and enjoying California wineries from Lake County to Orange County, from the Paso Robles Gold Coast to Gold Country and from Lodi to Bakersfield.
