Lioco - Indica Mendocino NV (750ml)
Price: $20.99
| Producer | Lioco |
| Country | United States |
| Region | California |
| Varietal | Carignan , Mourvédre |
| Size | 750ml |
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AROMA blueberry compote, dried rosemary, iron
FLAVOR plum skin, granite, black raspberry F
OOD PAIRINGS BBQ spare ribs, salsiccia pizza, grilled flank steak
VINIFICATION All fruit was hand-harvested in mid-October. Fermented in a mix of open-top tanks with light cap maintenance, and T-bins under a "submerged cap." After pressing, all lots aged separately in a mix of neutral oak barriques, punchons, and stainless steel for seven months before blending and bottling.
SITE From two historic Mendocino County vineyards – one with 70 year-old, dry-farmed Carignan (93%) pitched on an exposed rock slope at 2,400 feet; the other with 50 year-old Valdiguié (7%) organically farmed on clay soils in a cool, upland valley. These rapidly vanishing California grape varieties harken back to the Golden State's earliest winemaking efforts.
NOTES The 2018 Indica (first bottling since 2014) ran out of the warehouse. In 2019, we sought to increase the tonnage allocated to this SKU. There was a natural solution here: our stalwart grower partner in Talmage, Bartolomei Vineyard, home to several acres of dry-farmed, head-trained 1940s-era Carignan. We've historically allocated this over-performing fruit exclusively to our rosé program, but beginning in 2019 we carved out a few tons for Indica Red. As such, the 2019 Indica is a blend of three historic Mendocino ranches — Lolonis (circa 1942), McCutchen (circa 1960s), and Bartolomei (circa 1940s). The wine benefits from multiple fermentation techniques — some open-topped, some sub-capped, some closed-topped. The resulting wine is not carbonic hipster juice, but rather a serious red table wine more akin to Gigondas or Corbieres. Mostly Carignan with a few barrels of Valdiguie blended in for good measure, it may be the most "Californian" wine we produce.
