Our vin de soif wines, the Allegory Series are North Coast table wines designed to be consumed at the beach, over a Thursday night game of cribbage or any other time you want a fresh, easy drinking wine at an affordable price. We craft these wines with love and whimsy and hope they will bring joy and celebration to your table no matter how small the occasion.
The Vecino Vineyard in Mendocino’s Potter Valley is farmed by Luke Miller, who incorporates some biodynamic practices in his CCOF-certified organic farming. His Sauvignon is a Musqué selection, which features hints of tropical fruits other than the grassy character typical of other Sauvignon Blanc selections. The wine is raised in egg-shaped fermenters with a measure of skin contact, giving the wine a fuller mouthfeel and a littlespice character.
Total additions: 20 ppm sulfur Alcohol 12.50%
$24/bottle
The Blush is made from Zinfandel that grown at Adel’s Vineyard outside of Healdsburg at the entrance to Dry Creek Valley. We took over the farming here in 2018 and do all the work by hand. The wine is whole-cluster pressed, fermented and aged in neutral puncheon and barrel, and gets a few gallons of red wine to enhance fruit character and to provide its Barbie-Pink color.
Total additions: 10 ppm sulfur. Alcohol 11.5%
$24/bottle
Dry farmed in deep, red loam soils, Castañon Vineyard sits at 400 feet above the north shore of Lake Mendocino in the Redwood Valley AVA. José Castañon bought the ranch in 1993 and planted Zinfandel to accompany the original Carignan vines from the 1960’s. For The Rhythm Section, we ferment the Carignan whole-cluster with Zinfandel destemmed on top. Rich and fruity with a core of pleasing acidity, the wine is medium weight on the palate, a lovely deep garnet color and displays flavors of red plum, cranberries and earth.
Total additions 10 ppm sulfur. Alcohol 12.50%
$24/bottle
The Snake Oil Series are small-batch and one-off wines that allow us room to play and experiment while remaining true to what Mother Nature gives us. Each vintage presents new and exciting conundrums as to how to make delicious wine. Sometimes, we will taste a barrel in the winery that is so unique, we feel it should be bottled on its own.
We made our first vintage of Firebird in 2018 after the destruction of the Mendocino Complex Fire, which sparked in July off Highway 20 near Potter Valley. It burned 450,000 acres, making it the largest fire in California history to that point. Little did we know that fires in subsequent years would burn huge swaths of wine country, wreaking havoc and destroying dreams. Fermented and aged on its lees in a single barrel for 10 months, the wine was left untopped with no additions. We allowed a flor yeast to develop, as is the norm for some wines from Jura. Like all our wines, Firebird is unfined and unfiltered.
No sulfur additions. Alcohol 12.%
$30/bottle
Our first vintage of the Short Mac is a playful co-ferment of early harvest Zinfandel and Carignan from the Castañon Vineyard in Redwood Valley. The grapes were foot-stomped to start, and then gently punched to keep extraction slow. After four days, with the color going ruby and the tannin just beginning to show, we pressed the wine and transferred it to neutral barrels to finish fermentation. The Short Mac offers subtle red berry fruit character with a generous helping of Zinfandel spice. It’s light on the palate with translucent ruby coloring and shows best when chilled.
20 ppm sulfur
Alcohol 12.50%
$30/Bottle
Our second vintage from these wise, old vines farmed by our good friends, Federica Calabresi and José Ramirez in the outskirts of Healdsburg. The vines are over 100 years old, a blend of red and white varieties of unknown provenance, head-pruned and dry farmed. 100% whole fermented, the wine is spicy and complex with aromas of white flower, cardamom and allspice, the wine is light on its feet displaying fine tannins and good acidity.
Alcohol 12.50%
$30/Bottle
The Spider Chase Series wines are small batch production from rare and distinguished vineyards in the coastal ranges of Sonoma and Mendocino Counties. These wines hail from the remote AVAs of Fort Ross-Seaview and Mendocino Ridge where the vineyards are high in elevation and kissed by cool Pacific breezes. Designed for cellaring, enjoy the Spider Chase Series wines after decanting or with a few years bottle age.
Mendocino Ridge is the name given to the rugged range of mountains that’s bordered on the east by Anderson Valley and the west by the Pacific Ocean. The AVA is defined by elevation and consists of a smattering of vineyards planted on a few flat ridge tops. Perli sits at 2000 feet making for a wine with defined acidity and a distinct aromatic profile. The 2021 is classic Cali with powerful fruit and pleasing texture balanced by decided acidity and a long chill finish.
Total additions: 15ppm sulfur. Alcohol 12.5%
$42/Bottle
Mendocino Ridge is the name given to the rugged range of mountains that’s bordered on the east by Anderson Valley and the west by the Pacific Ocean. The AVA is defined by elevation and consists of a smattering of vineyards planted on a few flat ridge tops. Perli sits at 2000 feet making for a wine with defined acidity and a distinct aromatic profile. Notes of vanilla cream and lemon curd with flavors of cooked honey, almond and citrus zest. It finishes with zippy acidity and lots of length.
Alcohol 13%
$42/bottle
The Gianoli family immigrated from Prata, Italy in 1882 and soon after planted 20 acres of Zinfandel. The old winery and tavern they built is still onsite and the old vines made it past the 100-year mark before being replaced in 1993. Grown in sand and on their own root stock, Gianoli Ranch makes a classic Zinfandel with aromas of allspice and berry compote. The 2021 reflects its warm vintage and is a big boy with broad shoulders and sexy ruggedness. That said, the fruit character is distinctively Gianoli with plenty of red fruit, spice and nuance.
Total additions: 10ppm sulfur. Alcohol 14%
$42/Bottle
Water Horse Ridge Vineyard is located in the Fort Ross-Seaview appellation, 1700 feet high on Stewart Ridge, with views of the Pacific Ocean to the west. Jesus Velasquez and Patricia Greer planted the 2-acre vineyard in 1997 and farm organically with no synthetic pesticides or fertilizers. The 2018 season was dry and warm, which made for an excellent vintage at Waterhorse Ridge Vineyard. The resulting wine expresses this with great depth of fruit and tannin, along with Waterhorse Ridge’s signature acidity.
No sulfur additions. Alcohol 13.3%
$50/bottle
