Known these wines for years, as well as Craig the owner.  Mostly Italian translation but other projects getting my attention and causing reaction.

Everything with rime and music, symmetrical and asymmetrical charm.  Making me want to go to Italy and explore but also take my time.  The Sangiovese to start…. Tall and swaying and wooing, talkative and playful from medium-intensity fruit layers to the dimension of texture and Beat.. how it progresses against senses.  Wild charm and touch, genuine connection.

Barbera… something like a bright storm.  My experience with new world Barbera production has been more or less an eye-roll.  But not here… sincerity and true to Craig’s story and love and exploration of wine.  Something human and connective… truthful, nothing contrived.

Then the Cab Franc blend, Cease & Desist.  A story I’ll let him tell, but it’s a reaction to its own. Letting some know that his intentions of making the wines he wants and telling the story’s he’s meant to will not, what would an appropriate utterance, obstructed.  Cab Franc and I believe some other Bordeaux intersections, but CF is the driver.  And the singer, the player… Coltrane-like, profuse and impassioned, specifically postmodern.

When I first met the Sangiovese Craig produces, years ago, my current favorite if demanded to pick one, I was unable to translate the language thrown at me from the glass.  She was codified, shy, engaging in her sensory ride.  With this visit and vintage, there was more being said and I was reminded of my intrigue from my last visit to his tasting room.  The reading from the wine, she was saying something different, more encompassing and more love, connection and atmosphere.. speaking specifically to a wild wine writer like me.  Teaching me about her origins, and where I’m going in my wine story.  Precisely what I needed that day, in this year’s visit.

Tasting through his wines was a needed realization and education.  Not just with Italian pours or anything from Sonoma or nearby counties, or even wine.  PEOPLE… their stories.  Passion, doing something for a living without realizing it. It’s just what you do.  It’s your story and purpose, unsaid thesis, statement.

This is a winery that is its own Road, music, character cast stepping in syncopation of universality.  Passion, the word that keeps recurring and ping-ponging in my thoughts.  Wine reminds us that we are here, present, able to follow our most elevated of interests and passions and make them THE reality.  What we do, what we say, what we leave upon our exit.