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Inside the Bottle: Future Crossings 2023

A 95-Point Rhône Blend from the Heart of Willow Creek

Future Cross­ings has always been a wine about pos­si­bil­i­ty. With the 2023 vin­tage receiv­ing 95 points from Wine Enthu­si­ast, that promise feels more real than ever.

Sourced entire­ly from our CCOF Cer­ti­fied Organ­ic estate vine­yard in Paso Rob­les’ Wil­low Creek Dis­trict, Future Cross­ings 2023 reflects the grow­ing matu­ri­ty of our vine­yard as it enters its fifth leaf. Each sea­son, the vines dig deep­er into the lime­stone-rich soils of this coastal-influ­enced region, pro­duc­ing fruit with increas­ing nuance, depth, and balance.

For us, this wine embod­ies a sim­ple belief: great wines begin in the vineyard.

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A Dynamic Rhône-Inspired Blend

Future Cross­ings 2023 brings togeth­er four vari­eties that thrive in Paso Robles:

  • 59% Grenache
  • 32% Syrah
  • 6% Zin­fan­del
  • 3% Mourvè­dre

While root­ed in Rhône tra­di­tion, the inclu­sion of Zin­fan­del adds a dis­tinct­ly Paso Rob­les sig­na­ture, bridg­ing Old World inspi­ra­tion with our local heritage.

Each vari­ety is vini­fied sep­a­rate­ly before blend­ing, allow­ing every com­po­nent to devel­op its own char­ac­ter. When the final blend comes togeth­er, the goal is har­mo­ny — let­ting each vari­etal con­tribute its voice while cre­at­ing some­thing greater than the sum of its parts.

The fruit was har­vest­ed on Octo­ber 6, 2023, at 26.6 Brix, cap­tur­ing a moment where ripeness, fresh­ness, and struc­ture aligned.

After har­vest, the grapes were destemmed and fer­ment­ed in open-top fer­menters, a tra­di­tion­al method that encour­ages tex­ture and aro­mat­ic expres­sion. Gen­tle punch-downs once or twice dai­ly extend­ed skin con­tact and helped inte­grate the tan­nins while pre­serv­ing vibrancy.

Fer­men­ta­tion occurred with native yeasts, allow­ing the wine to devel­op nat­u­ral­ly and reflect the vineyard’s unique micro­bi­ol­o­gy. After fer­men­ta­tion, each lot was aged in a mix of neu­tral and new French oak bar­rels. This aging reg­i­men adds sub­tle notes of spice, cedar, and toast­ed oak, while main­tain­ing the puri­ty of the fruit.

Future Cross­ings pours a deep red-pur­ple, vibrant and inviting.

The aro­mas are lay­ered and expres­sive:
fruity tea leaves, shaved choco­late, red cher­ry, blue­ber­ry, orange rind, and an assort­ment of dried herbs.

On the palate, the wine bal­ances rich­ness with lift. Notes of fig, herbs, and fresh red fruit move across the palate with mild acid­i­ty and gen­tle tan­nin, lead­ing to a juicy, lin­ger­ing fin­ish where the fruit slow­ly fades and the struc­ture becomes more apparent.

The tex­ture is approach­able yet struc­tured — a wine that feels equal­ly at home with a thought­ful­ly pre­pared meal or sim­ply shared among friends.

In fact, it may be the kind of wine that doesn’t require a spe­cif­ic moment or occa­sion. It sim­ply invites one.

Coming Into Its Own

As our vine­yard matures, Future Cross­ings con­tin­ues to evolve along with it. The fifth-leaf vines are begin­ning to show their true poten­tial, offer­ing fruit with greater depth and com­plex­i­ty each vintage.

Receiv­ing 95 points from Wine Enthu­si­ast for this release is an incred­i­ble hon­or and a reflec­tion of the care that goes into every stage — from organ­ic farm­ing to patient blending.

For us, Future Cross­ings rep­re­sents the inter­sec­tion of lega­cy, land, and what lies ahead.

And if this vin­tage is any indi­ca­tion, the future looks very bright.

Future Cross­ings 2023 is deli­cious­ly flex­i­ble at the table — think roast­ed veg­eta­bles with Moroc­can spices or smoky egg­plant flat­breads for a veg­e­tar­i­an pair­ing that dances with the wine’s herbal notes. For the more adven­tur­ous, try it with a spiced lentil stew topped with crispy pota­toes. Best enjoyed dur­ing moments of pause — like catch­ing the last warmth of the sun on a hill­top, or unrolling a pic­nic blan­ket just because.

Future Cross­ings 2023 also shines along­side sim­ple, fla­vor­ful dish­es that let its bright fruit and acid­i­ty take the lead. Think herb-roast­ed chick­en with lemon and thyme, a wood-fired mush­room piz­za with fresh herbs, or grilled lamb skew­ers brushed with olive oil and cracked pep­per. The wine’s gen­tle tan­nins and lay­ers of fig, berry, and spice make it equal­ly at home beside a char­cu­terie board — aged cheeses, olives, and a few squares of dark choco­late echo the wine’s savory and sweet notes beautifully.

For a more casu­al moment, try it with burg­ers fresh off the grill or a bowl of toma­to-rich pas­ta. Future Cross­ings has that rare qual­i­ty of feel­ing both thought­ful and effort­less at the table — the kind of wine that ele­vates a meal with­out ask­ing you to over­think it.

Future Cross­ings also feels right at home in the kind of laid-back moments Paso Rob­les does best. Pack a bot­tle for a late after­noon pic­nic, pour a glass while the grill warms up, or open it dur­ing that gold­en hour when the hills start glow­ing and the day slows down. With its bright fruit and soft tan­nins this is the kind of wine that moves effort­less­ly from kitchen to patio to pic­nic blanket.

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