90 points Vinous Media

The 2023 Red Table Wine Indica is a crunchy, candied, fruity wine that screams with Carignan and Valdigué character. Wild berries, purple flowers, orange peel and black pepper tones rush through a joyful, vibrant wine that surprises with a nip of minerality on the finish. It's a fantastic value-driven blend with lovely old-school charm.

• Practicing Organic
• 100% Carignan
• Hand-harvested
• Sourced from a few historic Mendocino County ranches, some on the valley floor, some at high elevation
• All with heritage dry-farmed, head-trained vines
• Soils ranging from red clay to hard scrabbly rocky soils
• Hand-harvested
• Fermented in a mix of open-top tanks with light cap management
• Aged 10 months in a mix of neutral oak barriques, puncheons, and stainless steel
• 13.5% abv

AROMA blackberry, lavender, crushed stone FLAVOR Italian plum, sun-baked herbs, lilac

FOOD PAIRINGS Korean BBQ, lamb meatballs w/ red sauce, tacos al pastor

VINIFICATION All fruit was hand-harvested and meticulously sorted in mid-Sept/early Oct. Fermented in a mix of open-top tanks with light cap management, and T-bins beneath a "submerged cap." Once pressed, all lots were aged separately in a mix of neutral oak barriques, puncheons, and stainless steel for 10-months prior to bottling.

SITE Composed from a few historic Mendocino County ranches—some on the valley floor, some at high elevation—all with heritage dry-farmed, head-trained Carignan vines. Soils range from red clay (valley) to hard scrabble rocky soils (mountain). This rapidly vanishing California grape variety harkens back to the Golden State's earliest winemaking efforts.

NOTES The challenges of the 2020 vintage were formidable but not impossible. Pandemic aside, it was the widespread fires that necessitated loose knees and a steady temperament. Several of our vineyards were exposed to periods of hazy air from fires in neighboring regions. The distance from these fires ultimately proved to be the saving grace. The lab kept sending us back clean samples, and theories emerged about vineyards being relatively safe provided the fires originated far away. This proved to the be the case in parts of the Redwood Valley. To be extra cautious, we tested every load of fruit and employed winemaking protocols honed in the 2008 fire vintage. The 2020 Indica is from 100% old vine Carignan and features a historic ranch we've not sourced from before. Casa Verde is one of the neatest heritage plantings in the Redwood Valley with whites and red grapes interplanted in an old school California sprawl. We field selected for Carignan only. The normally football-sized Carignan clusters resembled mango-sized Pinot Noir clusters. The wine is a deeper, darker version of itself—clearly impacted by intense drought.

Vineyards: Casa Verde
Appellation: Mendocino County
Winemaker: Drew Huffine
Production: 1479 cases
Anticipated maturity: 2021-2029
pH: 3.5
Brix: 22.5º
Total acidity: 6.5 g/l
Residual sugar: 0.2 g/l
Alcohol: 13.5%
Yield: 1-3 T/acre
Clones: Mother Clone Carignan