Special Release Nebbiolo
2019

Winemaker’s Notes

If you’ve ever toured Piemonte in northwest Italy, you will have tasted the incredible Barolo and Barbaresco wines of the region – maybe to accompany a rib-coating wild boar stew. Most winemakers I know put the best of these wines at the pinnacle of vineyard expression and wine complexity and, similar to red Burgundy in many regards, such examples can achieve an ethereal combination of aromatic detail, textural depth and clarity of flavor. When we were offered the opportunity to experiment with a small lot of mountain-grown local Nebbiolo, we knew it would be a fun endeavor.

Nebbiolo needs warm, but not hot, days, and warm, not too cold, nights, and a long ripening season. These are just the exact conditions at June Mountain Vineyard, located on western Spring Mountain between Napa and Sonoma.

We vinified the fruit using traditional methods of whole cluster fermentation followed by long aging in neutral 80-gallon hogshead casks. The results are wonderful – all 90 cases!

Great aromatic complexity: red and black fruits, white flowers, white pepper, and black liquorish. Red and black cherry fruit dominate the wine. The tannins are round and dense and linger the entire length of the palate integrated within the deep broad texture. Beautifully long and persistent with rosehip spice and dark balsamic notes. I recommend drinking over two evenings to watch the complexity and layers steadily unfold. Drink between 2023 and 2030.

Andy Smith