A co-fermentation of hillside Merlot and Sangiovese from Martinez, fermented in open puncheon for a month, aged in in neutral wooden barrels for 23 months.

This, our most intense wine, is a perfect expression of its vineyard site: a very steep hillside of light, well-drained, marine soil, facing northeast on the edge of Grizzly Bay in the San Joaquin Delta. The steep hillside is planted to Merlot, which struggles terribly and produces tiny, scant clusters, with berries the size of peppercorns. Some of the Sangiovese is on the top of the hill, some is on a south-facing hillside. It all grows in much more luxurious conditions than the Merlot, and offers an absolutely necessary balance to the Merlot. The wine is dark and briary, with intense tannin and acidity. You could not call the wine “closed;” it is very expressive: but it is incredibly young. It will only begin to open in the next 5 years and will develop for two more decades.