Dewey’s Wines Carignan 2019

Dewey’s Wines Carignan 2019

Grapes: 100% Carignan

ABV: 13.3%

Region: Poor Ranch Vineyard, Mendocino, CA

Winemaker: Charlie Miller and Emma Rosenbush

Viniculture: organically dry-farmed vineyard, first established by the Poor family in the 1880s

Winemaking: 75% percent whole-cluster, fermented native, and was punched down twice a day. The wine aged in neutral oak for 18 months

“a powerful, energetic animal of a wine”

Dewey’s Wines is a new discovery for Crunchy Red Fruit, and like some of the other modern California producers we’ve introduced to you (e.g. Major Wines, Field Recordings), they’re doing interesting things with vineyards that have been around for decades, if not centuries. 

Charlie and Emma live in San Francisco, having settled there after years working in restaurants and wineries all over the world. They’ve actively pursued sites of singular character and personality to create interesting wines from. It’s not newsworthy any longer to just make grapes beyond Cabernet and Chardonnay–many producers in California have branched out. But the way that they’re doing their experimentation at Dewey’s is so cool. Their site selection is top-notch and reflects a love for the history of old California with vineyards around El Dorado and Mendocino counties.

This Mendocino Carignan is a powerful, energetic animal of a wine. With notes of sour cherry, cranberry tonic, tarragon and bitter chocolate, it grabs your attention and doesn’t let go.