The Newsroom · The Wine
The Wine
Field notes on the Rhone and Spanish varietals our partner vineyards grow in Southern California, and the practices behind the bottle.
See the the wine program →Carignan and Carinena: The Spanish Workhorse Reconsidered
On a grape California planted as a workhorse a century ago, and the elegant wines being made from the old vines now.
The Northern Rhone Blend: Marsanne and Roussanne, Together
On the field blend that defines white northern Rhone, and the Southern California version.
Rhone Valley Grapes, Grown Three Thousand Miles Away
On the Mediterranean grapes that quietly took root in Southern California.
Cinsault, Old-Vine California: A Quiet Revival
On a grape California has been growing for a hundred years that nobody noticed until recently.
Albariño on the California Coast
On Spain's Atlantic white grape, and the small plantings making serious wine in Southern California.
Why Small Acreage Matters
On the structural difference between buying from a grower with two acres and buying from one with two hundred.
Bourboulenc: A White That Reads Like the Mediterranean
On a Chateauneuf-permitted white that almost no one grows, and the small acreage of it growing inland from San Diego.
Biodynamic Viticulture in Practice: Fruit, Flower, Leaf, Root Days
On the day-type system that biodynamic vineyards use, and what each day type calls for.
Why We Do Not Source Cabernet Sauvignon
On the grape that defines California luxury wine, and our reasons for staying away from it.
Mourvedre and Monastrell: The Same Grape, Two Identities
On the same grape called Mourvedre in France and Monastrell in Spain, and what it does in Southern California.
Garnacha and Grenache: The Same Grape, Two Identities
On Spain's Garnacha and France's Grenache, and the Southern California versions.
Tempranillo in the San Diego Hills
On Spain's signature red grape, and the small but serious plantings in Southern California.
Bottling on a Fruit Day: A Practice We Have Begun to Follow
On our own bottling schedule, the small change we made, and what we have noticed.
Clairette: The Backbone of Provence Whites
On a grape that hides in nearly every southern French white blend, and the varietal expression a local grower has begun to make.
Counoise: The Quiet Chateauneuf Grape
On the red grape that almost no Chateauneuf bottle credits, and the small block of it growing locally.
The Southern California Wine Region, Briefly
On the AVAs and growing conditions of Southern California, and what the region uniquely produces.
The Moon and the Vine: What the Lunar Calendar Actually Does
On biodynamic viticulture's lunar calendar, the research, and what we have observed in our own bottling.
The Picardan Story: Two Acres in Southern California
On one of the rarest white grapes in the world, and the small block of it growing forty miles inland from the Pacific.
Why We Source Only From Southern California
On the discipline of staying local, and the wines it opens up.
Roussanne in Southern California: A Note from the Field
On the white grape that may be the most age-worthy white wine in California, and the local sites that grow it.