WINE NOTES:

2019 Duke & Ella, Santa Ynez Valley

Our fifth vintage of Duke & Ella, this has become our flagship white wine, in part for the development it shows with time in bottle. The 2015, our first vintage, is drinking beautifully. ’19 was an excellent year for these varieties, as the cool summer and moderate harvest temperatures led to an ideal balance between acid and sugar. Riesling from Coquelicot Vineyard provides the acid backbone and intense minerality, while Zaca Mesa Viognier contributes the rich texture and tropical aromatics this variety is famed for. 

12 months neutral French oak

20 ppm sulfur dioxide, solely at bottling. No other additions. 

Unfined/Unfiltered

38% Riesling, Coquelicot Vineyard, organically farmed

62% Viognier, Zaca Mesa Vineyard, sustainably farmed

2019 Subliminal Red, Santa Ynez Valley

Our fourth vintage of Subliminal, we are now referring to this as a red table wine rather than purely Cabernet Sauvignon, as we’ve found it to be a more complete, complex wine with a larger percentage of Merlot in the mix. While it is still predominantly Cabernet Sauvignon, we’ve upped the Merlot to provide more textural breadth as well as a broader spectrum of aromatics. This comes from 3 different sites, all of which are organically farmed: My Friend Matt’s Vineyard, Giff’s Vineyard, and Coquelicot Vineyard. This is a drink-me-now Cabernet Sauvignon- juicy, fresh, and already showing more complex secondary aromatics such as dried herbs, freshly-sharpened pencil, and earth. Yum, yum, and yum. Get some before we drink it all.

54% Merlot,, 46% Cabernet Sauvignon

100% neutral French oak, 12 months

Unfined/Unfiltered

2019 Tempranillo, My Friend Matt’s Vineyard, Santa Ynez Valley

Our second year working with Tempranillo from My Friend Matt’s Vineyard (formerly known as C5), we are convinced this is a truly special site for Tempranillo. Like the 2018, we fermented roughly 1/3 of this with its stems whole cluster, sandwiched in a single fermenter between destemmed whole berries. This site delivers some of the ripest stems we’ve ever seen, which contribute spice and structure. We continue to utilize a very small amount of neutral American oak, taking inspiration from classic Rioja, with the balance in neutral French. Structurally, this is medium-bodied; tannin is present, but it is much more vibrant than one would expect from old world Tempranillo, as this site holds acid very well. We love it now with braises or fall vegetables from the grill, but this is going to age 5+ years, if not significantly more.

10 ppm sulfur dioxide, solely at bottling. No other additions.

Unfined/Unfiltered

75% neutral French oak, 25% neutral American, 12 months for both

100% Tempranillo, 1/3 whole cluster, My Friend Matt’s Vineyard, organically farmed

Lightworks Volume 4, NV, Santa Ynez Valley

Our Lightworks solera continues to grow, dating all the way back to 2014 now, all sourced from the organically farmed Coquelicot Vineyard. As time goes on, this develops more and more aromatic and textural complexity. There is a definite oceanic component contributing to the overall complexity- Nori wrapper, sea salt, saline- along with dried fruit, olive, and lightly roasted coffee. All of these notes come solely from the complexity of Merlot at this site. It is mouthfilling, though not drying, and possesses from the natural acidity of fruit grown in Coquelicot. This is in a perfect drinking window- we’ve done the aging for you essentially- though the track record of previous volumes show it to develop even further with time in bottle.