Aphrodite
⏳ Drinking Window
2021 - 2026
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
Roasted pork belly, Moroccan vegetable tagine, aged hard cheeses
✨ Technical Specifications
Pax's 'Aphrodite' is an alluring, skin-contact white wine crafted from Chenin Blanc, representing Pax Mahle's innovative and minimal-intervention approach to heritage California vineyards. Sourced from old-vines in Mendocino County, most notably the Buddha's Dharma Vineyard, this cuv e undergoes extended skin fermentation to extract complex phenolics, deep golden-amber hues, and an exotic aromatic profile. Named after the Greek goddess of love and beauty, Aphrodite challenges traditional white winemaking boundaries by utilizing ancient amphora or neutral wood vessels to age the wine on its lees, resulting in a textured, cerebral drinking experience that beautifully bridges the gap between white and light red wines.
🍾 About the Producer
Established in 2000 by Pax and Pam Mahle, Pax Wines emerged as an influential champion of cool-climate California viticulture, initially earning renown for single-vineyard expressions of Syrah. Operating out of an urban winery and tasting cellar in Sebastopol's Barlow district, the domaine collaborates closely with growers across coastal Sonoma County, Mendocino, and the Sierra Foothills. Viticulture centers on organically and sustainably farmed heritage plots, frequently anchored in fractured shale, marine sandstone, and decomposed granite. While early vintages leaned rich and assertive, Pax evolved toward an uncompromising low-intervention ethos characterized by whole-cluster foot stomping, spontaneous fermentations driven by ambient yeasts, neutral French oak aging, and minimal sulfur. Beyond benchmark Syrah bottlings such as Alder Springs, Griffin's Lair, and Castelli-Knight Ranch, the portfolio explores esoteric and heritage white varieties, notably old-vine Chenin Blanc, Vermentino, and Pinot Blanc, celebrated for their tensile acidity, savory transparency, and mineral cut.
🍇 Grapes
Chenin Blanc