History

One of our favorite vineyards in California, these old, gnarled vines are planted on their own roots, in an unlikely spot in Antioch, California. Planted in 1890 and growing in deep sandy soil—essentially a vineyard on sand dunes—in the Sacramento River Delta, these are some of the most beautiful, old Carignane vines in the world.

Since the vineyard is dry-farmed and the soil is essentially pure sand, the roots extend down more than 40 feet to the water table below in some areas. The grapes consistently produce a jet-black/purple wine that shows off how complex a wine this varietal can be. 

Production

This is always the earliest vineyard we harvest each year, and 2017 year was no exception: we harvested on August 20th. 

We hand-sorted the grapes on a conveyor belt on the way to the destemmer to eliminate any imperfect fruit. The crushed grapes were then fermented using only the natural yeast 
population on the surface of the grapes (rather than 
commercial dried yeasts) to conduct the fermentation. 

At dryness, the wine was gently pressed in a membrane press and pumped into traditional 60-gallon oak barrels. The wine was aged for 8 months in one-year or older French oak 
barrels to maintain the vibrancy of the fruit. 

Production: 286 cases

Tasting Notes