2024 Muscardin

Muscardin is a little-known blending grape from the Rhone Valley; in 2009 there were just 11 hectares (27 acres) in Chateauneuf du Pape, less than that in the rest of the Rhone, and none anywhere else. Its combination of relatively low vigor, pale color, and sprawling growth appears to have been three strikes against it in the 20th Century, but its elegance, spice, and low alcohol have encouraged a small revival of interest in it in recent years. The quarter-acre that we grafted into the vineyard here in Paso Robles in 2019 is California's first. Muscardin is a large-berried grape that produces wines with pale color, good acidity, and a spicy, floral, herby complexity.

The 2024 vintage began with our second consecutive wet winter, giving the vines good reserves for the growing season. After a normal budbreak and a cool first half of the summer, those reserves were tested by our warmest-ever July and above-average temperatures through October. That led to a compressed harvest that was largely done by the second week of October and yields roughly 20% below our long-term averages. The low yields and warm year combined to produce fruit with intense flavors and noteworthy vibrancy.

The Muscardin grapes were grown on our Regenerative Organic Certified™ and biodynamic estate vineyard.

The fruit was destemmed and fermented on the skins for two weeks in a 1-ton microfermenter, punched down twice daily. Only native yeasts were used. After two weeks, the berries were pressed and this was combined with the free-run juice into a single neutral oak barrel, where it was aged until its bottling in April 2026.