Heritage

Tasting Notes: Mead, apricot and freshly baked pie on the nose and peach, nectarine and lemon cookie on the palate.

The Grenache Gris is one of our favorite wines. The color varies each year depending on the canopy of the vines throughout the growing season. This year we footstomped the grapes and left the juice on the skins for 24 hours before being pressed. The wine began fermentation in stainless steel and then moved to ferment and age in a mix of sandstone jars and neutral French oak barrique. We aged the wine a little longer this year in sandstone jars to help further elevate the pleasing acidity in the glass. The Grenache Gris hails from Gibson Ranch, in McDowell Valley just inland of the town of Mendocino, where some of their Grenache vines are more than 110-years-old. Their age really shows as the grape skins can vary widely in color depending on the year and harvest from sun-soaked pale to darker tones closer to Grenache Noir.

VARIETIES: 100% Grenache Gris

VINEYARD: Gibson Ranch 

ALCOHOL: 12%

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Tasting Notes: Green pepper, peony and cassis on the notes, strawberry jam, figs, and tart cherry on the palate.

KouKou is the textbook definition of a Broc red: Organically-grown grapes, fresh acidity, and winemaking that sometimes flouts convention to accentuate a wine’s best qualities. The key to the KouKou is the whole cluster fermentation, an atypical winemaking style when first harvested Cabernet Franc in 2010. We still make it this way today and love how it captures the grape’s bright and fresh characteristics. This focus on making a refreshing wine is a foundational style we emulate in making all of our red wines – they’re meant to pick you up, never weigh you down. The grapes were harvested from Santa Ynez Vineyard just outside of Santa Barbara in Happy Canyon. After harvest, the Cabernet Franc underwent carbonic, whole cluster fermentation in stainless steel tank, before being pressed and aged in neutral barrique for nine months. Ready to drink now or briefly age. Enjoy this vintage on the cooler side of cellar temperature.

FUN FACT: KouKou is our play on the fun French greeting “coucou”.

VARIETIES: 100% Cabernet Franc

VINEYARD: Santa Ynez Vineyard

ALCOHOL: 12%

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Featured in our Spring Club!

TASTING NOTES: Blackberry, Dark currant, Leather

California Cabernet Sauvignon is delightfully varied. Our version steers away from the big, bold and brash representations and instead coaxes out the grape’s more fruit-forward side. We harvest from Massa Vineyard, a unique site that sits at 1,500 feet in elevation with vines nestled among loamy soil. This Carmel Valley Cabernet has lustrously blue fruits and a silky whisper of tannin. The whole cluster grapes saw regular pumpovers during fermentation in stainless steel tank. It was then pressed into neutral French oak barrique and aged for 10 months. 

VARIETIES: 100% Cabernet Sauvignon

VINEYARD: Massa Vineyard (Carmel Valley) | Farming: Certified organic

ALCOHOL: 12.5%

Featured in our Spring Club!

Tasting Notes: Baking spices, cherry and resin

Zinfandel is a notable part of California’s history, introduced during the Gold Rush. It’s also a foundational grape in our own history and we’ve harvested Wirth Zinfandel since 2002. We love older expressions of California Zinfandel – lighter styles with vibrant acidity and inviting fruit, before it became too overly ripe and high in alcohol. Our winemaking returns Zinfandel to its origins of a pleasing table wine. Unlike the playful nature of our other Zinfandel wine, Vine Starr, our Wirth Ranch Zinfandel is a special expression showcasing more heritage vines. Organically farmed in Solano County Green Valley, these older vines produce lower yields that are highly concentrated, resulting in a wine with more depth and structure. The grapes were naturally fermented with 80% whole cluster and 20% destemmed fruit on top in stainless steel open top fermenters and saw pump overs of the juice twice per day. We aged the wine in neutral oak barriques for 10 months. Age up to 10 years.

VARIETIES: 85% Zinfandel | 15% Petite Sirah

VINEYARD: Wirth Ranch | Non-certified organic

ALCOHOL: 13%

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Tasting Notes: Violet and blueberry compote

A great expression of old heritage vines from Wirth Ranch we’ve harvested since 2011. With older and dry farmed vine plantings, you get more complexity, depth and structure, which we love! The outcome is darker fruit with lifting acidity. This year’s Valdiguié has a luscious deep plum and elegant structure. This is a wine that stands out from the rest with the ability to slightly age. Wirth Ranch is located in the heart of Solano County’s Green Valley, between Napa and Suisun Valley. The dry-farmed Valdiguié vines from Wirth Ranch were originally planted in 1948 and grow deep in the steep-sloped, iron-rich soils farmed organically by Steve Wirth. Destemmed and fermented in stainless steel tanks, when the wine was ready, we gently pressed into two neutral barriques to age for 10 months. 

FUN FACT: Valdiguié is still known as Napa Gamay to many farmers in California.

VARIETIES: 100% Valdiguié

VINEYARD: Wirth Ranch | | Non-certified organic

ALCOHOL: 12.5% 

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Tasting Notes: Ripe cherry, Fig and Nutmeg.

For us, the definition of a classic California table wine can only be Zinfandel. It’s a fresh, vibrant grape when picked early and pairs well with food. Only in recent decades has Zinfandel’s reputation evolved to be overly extracted and big. La Boutanche brings back the classic style of Zinfandel that feels timeless and is just plain delicious. The Zinfandel grapes were destemmed and naturally fermented in open top stainless fermenters. After the wine was gently pressed, it was aged in neutral French oak barrels for nine months. We made this acid-driven, food-friendly wine in a liter size that everyone can enjoy at the table. 

VARIETIES: 100% Zinfandel

LOCATION: California

ALCOHOL: 13%

Tasting Notes: Lemon zest and pomello

A unique expression of Chardonnay that has the vivacity only California can provide to Chardonnay with the crisp balance of fruit and acidity akin to a Chablis-style wine. This Chardonnay has a long history with us, starting with our first vintage in 2010. The Michael Mara Vineyard sits along the Sonoma Mountain range in the Sonoma Coast AVA. It’s a unique site for growing Chardonnay in California with the fruit absorbing lots of the marine air along with minerality from the rocky soil. We brought in the grapes whole cluster and directly pressed. The juice fermented naturally in two stockinger Austrian oak puncheons. Aged on the lees for 10 months. The result is an approachable wine for chardonnay lovers, novices and dare we say – even skeptics. Age up to 20 years.

VARIETIES: 100% Chardonnay

VINEYARD: Michael Mara Vineyard

ALCOHOL: 12% 

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Tasting Notes: White strawberry, crisp pear on the nose, salt-rimmed paloma, citrus pith and papaya on the palate.

This is one cheeky rosé – and we’re not talking about the sartorial nature of its name. Although the Zinfandel grapes come from Arrowhead Mountain Vineyard, the same vineyard as our Vine Starr, they have a characteristic all their own because of where they sit – high atop the mountain catching lots of sun. For this reason, we pick the grapes much earlier and love their balanced bright acid and softer palate. This vintage is a more captivating rosé that has an inviting acid structure and alluring paloma-like quality. We added Trousseau Gris, a new grape for us from the Cole Ranch AVA. The Trousseau Gris spent 10 days on skins before it was pressed into stainless steel tank to ferment and age in a single neutral French oak barrique. We brought in the Zinfandel grapes and foot-stomped whole cluster and macerated for several hours before being pressed into stainless steel tank to ferment and age. We blended the two together two weeks before bottling because, together, they brought out each other’s best qualities.

FUN FACT: Our first vintage of this same blend was in 2019. We loved the results and were waiting for the perfect time – and vineyard – to do it again.

VARIETIES: 90% Zinfandel | 10% Trousseau Gris

VINEYARD: North Coast

ALCOHOL: 10%

Tasting Notes: Fresh apricot, ripe strawberry

Typically, this blend is mostly Trousseau Noir, however, we flipped the script and dialed up the Zinfandel this time. This is due to a hard frost that meant reduced yields for the Trousseau Noir. Still, we love what this vintage brings. The Zinfandel’s gentle tannin and red fruits play with the Trousseau Noir’s deep fruity characteristics to deliver a wine that’s delightful – notes of fruit punch and a twinge savory. Both varieties are harvested from Wirth Ranch in Solano County’s Green Valley and grow alongside one another in steep-sloped, iron-rich volcanic soils. We harvested and co-fermented the two together in stainless steel tank, pressed and aged in two neutral barriques.

FUN FACT: The Trousseau vines were original plant material brought over by UC Berkeley in the mid-late 1800s! These cuttings are from Rorick Heritage Vineyard in Calaveras.

VARIETIES: 60% Zinfandel | 40% Trousseau Noir

VINEYARD: Wirth Vineyard

ALCOHOL: 12%

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Tasting Notes: Marionberry, Thai Basil and Cubanelle peppers

This Cabernet Sauvignon is a fresher style than other Cab representations. We harvest the grapes at lower brix compared to neighboring Napa Valley to help highlight the style we prefer and keep it fairly simple in the cellar. This vintage is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc, a combination that provides a delicious balance of dark fruits and soft tannins. Most of the Cabernet Sauvignon grapes were destemmed with the remaining grapes left whole cluster. We fermented with native yeast and pressed early to lessen the amount of tannins in the wine.

For Chris, the ‘Perfect Red’ means, “Something that’s easy to drink but has enough complexity to elevate the wine…is affordable and ‘perfect’ for what it is and how it’s priced.”

VARIETIES: 75% Cabernet Sauvignon | 25% Cabernet Franc

VINEYARD: California

ALCOHOL: 13%