We dreamt it.  At the risk of sounding cheesy, that’s how “Duke & Ella” came to be.  Cam had a dream that he was in the cellar, blending our Muscat and Viognier (which we had never done or considered doing), tasting the results and digging it; Mar woke up the same morning and said, “Have you ever thought of blending the Muscat and Viognier?”  Clearly the universe was telling us something. Now of course, the seed was planted by many of the great whites of the Roussillon that we love to drink, where Muscat is married to various Rhone whites; I guess it took our subconscious to get our asses in gear and follow through on what our palates had always known was meant to be.

And the name?  Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald had many incredible collaborations together, their impeccable brilliance at improvisation always on display.  The wavelength they were on, an almost subconscious sensing of where the other would go next, seemed like a fitting title for the origins of this, our first blend.  The sense of grace, balance, and precision that these two amazing artists achieved are what we strive for with this and all of our wines. They said it best: “It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing.”

76% Viognier, Zaca Mesa Vineyard, Santa Ynez Valley- Shale loam
24% Muscat, Wind Willow Vineyard, Los Alamos- Clay loam (front block) and dune sand (house block) 

Alcohol: 13.1%

Finished pH: 3.1

Primary Fermentation: Native yeast

Secondary fermentation: Native bacteria, 100% ML

Aging: 12 months sur lie, no stirring

Viognier- 100% stainless steel.  Muscat: 6 months in neutral oak, then blended with Viognier in tank, 6 additional months in stainless

Unfined and Unfiltered

Hand bottled by gravity

Ingredients: Grapes, Minimum effective SO2 (None at crush, 25 ppm post-ML, 25 ppm at bottling)