Inconnu “No Gods No Masters” Cabernet Sauvignon 2019

“Cabernet Sauvignon in its truest form must have tartness and richness in balance. This wine achieves that beautifully.”

I tend to favor the work of people working outside the system, and doing the thing that’s hardest to do. For winemakers, the most difficult path is often the one that leads away from corporate wine jobs, and towards striking out on your own.

Laura Brennan-Bissell is the winemaker in question here, and has worked all over the wine industry, gaining experience and reps. Her first project is called Inconnu wines, and is focused on low-intervention wines from multiple sources around California. 

The grapes for this Cabernet Sauvignon come chiefly from Mendocino, an area which is typically a bit cooler than Napa, owing to its northerly situation. 

I was particularly struck by this wine–California Cabernet is a loaded category. A loaded phrase, even. For many people, it conjures up images of massive barrel rooms, golden-cursive labels, and laughing groups of expensively-dressed people. But before California Cabernet became a Hollywood star, it was a brilliant, humble actor from a small town. It was the province of former apple and raisin farmers who had begun to plant wine grapes across Napa and Sonoma, many of them Italian immigrants. Back in the 60s or 70s, you could drive your car right to the cellar door of many wineries, where someone would load a case or two of wine into your car. Often the person loading the wine in was the owner/winemaker themself. Nowadays the winery owner has neatly manicured nails and a supercar.

Laura Brennan-Bissell doesn’t fit the mold. She’s a young upstart who has started outside the normal channels in order to do her own thing. Inconnu wines is her first label, focused on organically and regeneratively-farmed wines from vineyards in California. Winemaking is low-impact, with zero chemical inputs. Laura is a believer in strict, clean winemaking. What this doesn’t mean is that she uses artificial chemicals to achieve cleanliness. This is a hard line for many low-intervention winemakers, and it should be clear to everyone that natural winemaking doesn’t need to mean you have a dirty finished product. Laura learned the rules so that she can break them–she makes her wine with organic grapes, wild yeasts and super-low sulfur additions. Nothing more, nothing less.

No Gods No Masters caught me with its eye-catching title and crisp label, but the wine inside was inspirational too. Here was California Cabernet stripped of artifice, yet still rich with texture and flavor. After tasting many overhyped, manipulated, steroidal Cabernets, this feels like a breath of fresh air. Cabernet Sauvignon in its truest form must have tartness and richness in balance. This wine achieves that beautifully. It’s all crisp blackberries and fresh plums, with fresh mint, graphite, cedar bark and bay leaf underneath. It’s clean but still wild.