But this this first wine is actually totally experimental in the best way.
This is the this is co-fermented red wine version of this block at Adler Springs. It was just kind of one of those classic moments going through the vineyard on Stuart’s Land Cruiser and I’m said, “What’s that block down there?” I could see rows of red grapes and white grapes, none of the clusters look the same. Stuart said, “You don’t want to go down there.”
No one had made red out of this block before. The grapes typically went on the ground. The whole ferment was one ton. It has Nero D’Avola, Graciano, Refosco, Fiano, and more.
The New World is never the Old World. But when looking around at terroir around the planet, Nero d’Avola does great in eroding sandstone at elevation, like in Sicily. Mendocino is obviously not Sicily, but it’s got well draining volcanic soils, mountainside. That’s how this wine came alive.
I wanted to make a red wine that was a red table wine that you can have any night of the week, delicious. It turned out to be the dark horse of the vintage, it seems to give a little bit more than a red table wine does so really pleased to not hit the mark in that way I guess.