Rhone-Style

The 2023 Sarah’s Vineyard Syrah is based on the noble varietal of France’s Northern Rhone, responsible worldwide for classic reds. From French Hermitage to Australian Shiraz, Syrah is one of the most popular and widely planted red wine grapes. The Syrah for our ’23 vintage came from our good friend George Besson, Jr.’s old vineyard, just 300 yards to the east of Sarah’s. This historic property was originally planted in 1922. 

The S.V. Grenache Blanc is our take on this traditional white wine of the southern Rhône Valley. Estate-grown and bottled since  2006, this rare white grape shows surprising zingy tropical fruity characters.

91 Points, Wine Enthusiast

Ripe aromas of cherry syrup, cola and sandalwood show on the nose of this estate bottling. The palate pairs strawberry and cherry with flashes of cinnamon and soil. — Matt Kettmann

The 2022 Sarah’s Vineyard Grenache comes from Sarah’s estate and is generally used exclusively in our Madonne Rhone blend. This is the first time since 2016 that we have released a Grenache, and we are really excited about it. We hand-harvested and destemmed the whole Grenache berries directly into the fermenter. We “cold soaked” until the onset of a robust, native fermentation before inoculating with commercial yeast. Punch downs of the cap were done by hand, three times a day. One hundred percent secondary malolactic fermentation was induced. Aged 18 months in neutral French oak barrels. All these careful techniques have the aim of maintaining the superb fruit and spice aromas and flavors.

The 2024 Sarah’s Vineyard Viognier is based on this noble varietal from France’s Northern Rhone. Despite a surge in its popularity in California in the 1990’s, there is still relatively little Viognier planted in the state. We currently have about an acre of Viognier planted in Block B2 of our Dwarf Oak home vineyard at Sarah’s. For the ’24 release, hand-harvested and whole cluster pressed the Viognier fruit. Fermentation began in neutral French oak barrels. After the barrel fermentation, the wine was matured sur lie in neutral barrels for six months. 

The 2023 Sarah’s Vineyard Madonne Blanc is our effort to emulate the traditional white wines of the southern Rhône Valley. It is a marriage of California soils and climate to a classically styled blend of estate grown Rhone white varieties.Our estate vineyards bridge the historic Santa Clara Valley and the cooler climate “Mt. Madonna” district of the southern Santa Cruz Mountains. Here
fog and winds from nearby Monterey Bay dramatically cool down the estate, extending the season and providing unique conditions for growing complex Rhône cultivars.

To create our estate Madonne Blanc, we actually make 4 individual wines, then blend them carefully to make the best wine we can.