Outpost was established in 1998 and sits on a pristine piece of land atop Howell Mountain 2200 feet above Napa Valley. Thomas Rivers-Brown has been the winemaker from the start and has gained further acclaim making highly sought after wines for Schrader, Rivers-Marie and many others. Besides Zinfandel, Outpost also produces Cabernet Sauvignon and Grenache.
The Grenache is estate-grown on their Howell Mountain property. Brick red in color. 15.3% ABV. Figs, pepper, plums and fresh tomatoes on the nose. Raspberry, kirsch, asian spices, strawberry, tea, garrigue and leather on the palate. This wine appears to be fully evolved. Since I tried my first bottle of this almost five years ago I still think this about as close to Châteauneuf-du-Pape as California Grenache can get. Drink over the next year or so.
My rating: 91 points.
Outpost wines are only available via the mailing list and sell out quickly. Highly recommended.
If you enjoyed this post please consider subscribing to Zinfandel Chronicles updates by email.
I’ve wanted to try Outpost for a while now but haven’t had an opportunity. Interesting to hear that this is the closest to CDP you’ve found domestically. It’s always been hard for me to enjoy NW Grenache since I love CDP so much. I almost have to consciously tell myself, this is NW not CDP, haha
Agreed. There simply are very few domestic Grenache based wines that could pass for a CdP.