2022 Carignane
Our Carignane block in the Vogensen parcel is truly a gem of the entire Preston Vineyard: eighty year old vines stand, statuesque but sprawling, with the same dynamic balance inherent to a large, tangled oak. On harvest day in mid September, time slows a little, and we take care to sort and process the fruit from these soulful, weathered vines. With regard to winemaking, the wine is hardly made at all: the real work has already been done by the vines over most of the last century, their roots digging ever deeper in communion with the alluvial bench they stand on. Whole bunches of grapes are crushed by foot in a large open-top fermenter, and after a few weeks we drain the wine off to neutral barrels, where it ages for a year or so before bottling. A dynamic balance is expressed in the wine as well: within its unity is a tension between fruity notes of blackcurrant and plum and savory notes of leather and sap; and of granite and iron minerality vibrating with finely-grained tannic structure. These resilient vines were able to withstand the torrid heat of Labor Day 2022, which served to concentrate the fruit further and dial up the intensity for this bottling. The 2022 Carignane is a wine of energy and soul that represents a history of winegrowing in our corner of Dry Creek. GH
100% Carignane
13.0% Alcohol
TA: 6.4 g/L
pH: 3.55
Aging: 8-10+ years from vintage
Cases produced: 378
Grapes are certified organic (CCOF).
Fermentation is initiated spontaneously without the addition of
commercial yeast or malolactic bacteria.