2023 CINSAULT ESTATE GROWN

We are so pleased to once again release a red Cinsault from our estate. We stopped releasing this limited release red after 2015 in order to craft and bottle more Rosé. But so many of you kept asking for us to bring this back…We were waiting for just the right vintage and 2023 delivered in spades with modest yields and plenty of sunshine to ripen the finicky Cinsault grapes to perfect ripeness levels for stand alone red wine. Here is the back story on this wine…Back in 2013 we recognized that we had a very special block growing right next to our winery in the middle of the vineyard. For nearly 10 years I crafted our wines within a few hundred feet of the Cinsault block growing on the Curtis Estate. I naively saw these grapes as contrary to the normal wine-growing goals of small, concentrated berries and clusters. The Cinsault, rather, was always large berries with large clusters that looked worthy of Rose, but not red wine. I simply dismissed it as not worthy of my attention. I began to seek out varietal Cinsault wines and I realized that they were perfect mid-weight red wines for the warmer months – they were a bit lighter and softer than most of our other wines. Cinsault is a very widely planted grape in France (and around the world to be honest), in spite of the fact that you do not see varietal bottlings very often. The 2023 Vintage of this wine is perhaps our best effort to date, benefiting from the small yields and bountiful sunshine. It is at once fruity and savory, with aromas and flavors of tart red berries, rhubarb, forest floor, and orange rind. In the mouth, the wine is surprisingly rich and layered with a long, silky finish. Enjoy this bottling over the next 3-5 years.