Stagiaire - 'Sunset in Undertow' - Syrah - Poor Ranch, Mendocino, CA - 2022

Notes from the Winery/Importer

For generations the Poors have been farming their property in the mountains east of Hopland whose peaks separate Mendocino County from neighboring Lake County. They don’t drink, and they farm grapes as if they were any other crop. It just so happens that grapes are what they can grow up there without water. Across many expositions and elevations they work with only red varieties that do well in hot and arid environments. All plantings are done from their own nursery and grafted onto St George rootstock. A very low vigor and drought tolerant selection. Classic California organic farming consisting of cross-discing/tilling for weed management and sulfur dusting for powdery mildew control. Nothing else. Very low input. Yields are very low depending on the block. The Syrah for this wine comes from the Upper vineyard which yields between 1-2 tons per acre. You feel like you are on a different planet up there. The deep-rooted vines bake in the sun without regard for the number on the thermostat, focusing their energy into the few concentrated clusters they can eke out each year. It isn’t a site for making rose or delicate chilled reds. The wines want to be opulent and full. To force them to do something else is hubristic. 2022 was a drought year and yields were miniscule. I was ready for the sugars to start racing as soon as the grapes took on color as this site tends to do. We harvested a mixture of expositions from 23.4-24 brix. Coming off the intensity of the 2021 vintage we opted for whole cluster maceration to bring some freshness to the wine. It started carbonic with progressive foot-treading for 2-3 weeks. 18 months in neutral oak and 4 months in tank before bottling. This is my ideal burger wine. Fruit leather. Olive tapenade. Hibiscus. Violet. Blood.

Notes on the Producer

‘STAGIAIRE’ The French word for apprentice and what the winemaker I worked for in Jura called me when other local vigneron asked who the hell the guy speaking really bad French was. The name encapsulates humility, impermanence, and the pursuit of knowledge. I work with vineyards that are organic at a minimum, actively seeking thoughtfull and regenerative practices instead of recipe farming. Most importantly I want to work with good people that are trying to farm with nature instead of against it. Starting in 2020 I am farming a few parcels of my own. If we have good grapes, why add anything to them in the cellar?