Based on 59% Syrah, 23% Mourvèdre, 15% Grenache, and 3% Viognier that's still aging in 50% new French oak, the 2018 Eaba was only 40% destemmed and comes from Bien Nacido, White Hawk, Larner, Harrison-Clarke, and Alta Mesa Vineyards, all in Santa Barbara County. It's another inky colored effort from Jim that delivers beautiful purity as well as fresh yet powerful aromas and flavors of black and blue fruits, ground pepper, sappy herbs, violets, and hints of bacon fat. It's beautifully textured and full-bodied, with good acidity and structure followed by a great finish. It's a beautiful, age-worthy effort from Jim that's going to need 3-5 years of bottle age but should keep for 20 years or more.

The very first vintage of this label, the 2017 EABA (ee-buh), will be bottled in August 2019 and is composed of 58% Syrah, 28% Mourvedre, 11% Grenache and 3% Viognier, employing 60% whole cluster. It is an uber-blend of Bien Nacido, White Hawk, Larner, Harrison-Clarke, Watch Hill and Alta Mesa Vineyards. It will spend around 22 months in French oak barriques, 50% new. Deep garnet-purple colored, it has quite a savory/meaty nose, sporting notions of salami, black olives, tobacco, garrigue and tilled soil over a core of preserved plums and baked blueberries plus wafts of black pepper and rosemary. Full-bodied and super concentrated, the palate possesses a rock-solid structure with firm, ripe, rounded tannins and great freshness, finishing long with a minerally lift on the finish.