Unturned Stone - 'The Hatchling' - Sauvignon Blanc - Potter Valley, CA - 2024

Satellite's Hot Take

Ridiculously high quality and screams sexy sauv blanc

Notes from the Winery/Importer

The Vecino Vineyard in Mendocino’s Potter Valley is farmed by Luke Miller, who incorporates some biodynamic practices in his CCOF-certified organic farming. His Sauvignon is a Musqué selection, which features hints of tropical fruits other than the grassy character typical of other Sauvignon Blanc selections. The wine is raised in egg-shaped fermenters with a measure of skin contact, giving the wine a fuller mouthfeel and a littlespice character. Total additions: 20 ppm sulfur Alcohol 12.50%

Notes on the Producer

Unturned Stone was founded in 2010 by Erin Mitchell and Randy Czech, two industry veterans dedicated to traditional wine growing and winemaking in Northern California. We honor Mother Nature’s intentions and the work of our farmers by only sourcing organically grown grapes from Sonoma and Mendocino Counties. All our ferments occur naturally, and we rely on taste and experience rather than lab numbers to guide our winemaking. We do no additions or subtractions in the winery other than minimal sulfur as needed and are firm believers in low intervention winemaking. We believe good wine is grown rather than made and we see ourselves simply as custodians of the process. Erin Mitchell has worn many hats since beginning her career in wine in Seattle in the early 1990’s. She got her start fresh out of college working as a sales associate in the gourmet foods department of Macy’s in 1993. She then went on to lead the team at McCarthy and Schiering Wine Merchants as their first female buyer and store manager. In 2000, she helped form Triage Wines, the first wholesale wine company in the Pacific Northwest committed to importing and distributing natural wine. In 2010, Erin moved to California, and began working as a sales representative for Farm Wine Imports in San Francisco. That same year, she and Randy started making wine together in a friend’s barn near the mouth of the Russian River. What started as a passion project soon evolved into Unturned Stone Productions. When not in the vineyard or winery, Erin still works for Farm Wine Imports sharing her passion for and knowledge of classic, artisan wine grown in both the old and new world. Randy Czech came to wine production in 2002 after working as a professional brewer in his native Colorado. He spent four vintages learning lab and cellar work in Napa Valley and South Africa while studying viticulture at Napa Valley College. In 2005, he found a vineyard-focused job at Flowers Vineyard and Winery on the Sonoma Coast. Five vintages later (including one in New Zealand) Randy left Flowers, committed to practicing organic farming and determined to make classic, low-intervention wines without modern additives. He spent three years planting and training up a small vineyard near the town of Duncans Mills, and then went on to farming and harvest work at Failla Wines (2012-2015). In 2010, Randy and Erin started Unturned Stone after they were offered a ton of fruit from the beautiful Waterhorse Ridge in Fort Ross-Seaview. They released their first wines commercially in 2015 and have grown their production to include wines from both Sonoma and Mendocino Counties. Randy is also consulting viticulturist for Gary Farrell Winery, Pigasus Vineyard, and for several other vineyard owners in Sonoma County.