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TECHNICAL SPOTLIGHT WINEMAKING October 2015 WINES&VINES 49 Paderewski's original ranch, and in 2010 they purchased the York Mountain property that had been the site of a winery dating back to the 1880s. The Armstrongs had planned to build a modern winery near where the defunct historic winery stood, but a separate 20-acre par- cel on York Mountain that was already home to a winery went on the market in 2012, and the Arm- strongs purchased that instead. The winery was Stephen's Cel- lar, which had been built by Ste- phen Goldman, whose family purchased the historic York Moun- tain Winery in 1970 and would later create the York Mountain AVA in 1983. The Goldmans sold the York Mountain Winery prop- erty in 2001 to David Weyrich, who also owned Martin & Weyrich Winery, several vineyards and a luxury hotel. Weyrich was forced to sell all of those assets in a bank- ruptcy brought about by the reces- sion and the failure of several ambitious business ventures. The historic winery was severely dam- aged in a 2003 earthquake and had sat unused until the Arm- strongs recently set about to re- vive it as Epoch's new tasting room. By purchasing both proper- ties on York Mountain, the Arm- strongs have reunited the site of one of Paso Robles' oldest vine- y a r d s w i t h i t s f i r s t b o n d e d winery. In addition to the 65-acre Pa- derewski Vineyard, the Arm- strongs also purchased the 30-acre Catapult Vineyard on Paso's west side and plan to plant another vineyard at the winery. Modern simplicity Tucked away in a grove of mature oak trees, the 17,000-square-foot winery has a subtle yet modern design and is constructed with exposed steel beams. An open area in the center of the structure serves as the crush pad. A small warehouse borders one side of the crush pad, and the main fermenta- tion cellar is on the other. Both structures and the crush pad share the same roof. Delivery trucks can drive through the open-air middle section to deliver grapes, turn around on the other side and then drive back down the one road that provides access to the hilltop win- ery. In addition to the main pro- duction hall, the winery also features two underground barrel rooms as well as offices and a lab in a separate structure built with the same design. Architect Brian Korte designed the winery as well as the new tast- ing room that is currently being built. The Armstrongs met Korte when they hired the firm Lake- Flato to design and build their home and the Armstrong Oil & Gas office building in Denver. The Phoenix, Ariz.-based firm The Construction Zone was the gen- eral contractor on the winery and These large doors separate the crush pad and the main fermentation cellar. One of two barrel rooms at Epoch Estate Wines in Paso Robles, Calif. The winery uses French oak barrels and many puncheons and hogsheads. BRITTANY APP