COMMUNITY-MINDED CALI GEMS

Winemaker Rosalind Reynolds approaches her work at Emme Wines as a community-first endeavor. Working within a like-minded community of grape-growers and winemakers in Northern California, she farms grapes organically and makes wine without additives. Her goal is to make "fresh, bright wines that taste good, encourage thoughtful discussion, and ultimately bring people together."

 

 

 

Emme Wines 'The Sun Egg' Muscat Vert - ‘The Sun Egg’ is a book by Swedish author Elsa Beskow, about an elf who finds an orange in the woods, and one of Rosalind's favorite stories as a child. This the first vintage of this very special wine, made from the little-known Muscat Vert grape variety, dry-farmed and organically grown at the Nakai Vineyard in Sonoma's Russian River Valley. The fruit was pressed directly, settled overnight, and racked off gross lees to stainless steel for fermentation. Once fermentation finished, the wine was placed into one small concrete egg and neutral oak barriques to age for 6 months.

 

Emme Wines 'Enhorabuena' Carignan Rosé - ‘Enhorabuena’ means congratulations, and more literally, ‘in the good hour.' Made from organic and dry-farmed Carignan from the Ricetti Vineyard in Mendocino's Redwood Valley AVA. The glorious color is achieved by foot-stomping the grapes and allowing it all to soak on the skins for several hours before pressing, to soak up color and tannin into the juice. Once pressed, the juice settles overnight, is racked off gross less to stainless steel, and ferments dry in tank. After primary fermentation finished, the wine was moved to a combination of neutral oak barriques and stainless steel barrels. Both aged for 6 months, then were racked together to tank in late March for bottling.

 

Emme Wines "Pink Lemonade" - ‘Pink Lemonade’ looks like electric pink lemonade during fermentation, and was named as such. The blend is composed of two separate picks. The 2023 "Pink Lemonade" is, as always, a blend of all the varieties planted at Ricetti Vineyard. The first of these picks is the earlier-ripening varieties at Ricetti – Abouriou and Zinfandel (which contribute tannin and color), as well as some Colombard (for acidity). This pick was crushed and left to ferment on skins for 7 days, with the goal of extracting a good portion of the tannins from the Abouriou skins. The second pick, three weeks later, comprises the later-ripening varieties at Ricetti – Valdiguié, Carignan and Colombard. This pick was very minimally crushed, with a full third of the fruit left intact on the bottom of the tank to undergo carbonic fermentation. The goal with this style of fermentation was to extract much less tannin and produce a fruitier, lighter wine, as a counterbalance to the earlier, more tannic pick. Both picks ferment in stainless steel and after primary fermentation is finished, they are aged separately neutral oak barriques for 5-6 weeks before being blended, with the goal of creating one comprehensive field blend that allows each variety to put its best foot forward and shine collectively in beautiful balance.

 

 

Emme Wines 'Violet Sky' Valdiguié - Due to its high acidity, Emme's 2023 Valdiguié is of a particularly intense violet hue, and was named "Violet Sky" it to reflect that color. Again, organically grown and dry-farmed at the Ricetti Vineyard; always the slowest fruit to ripen at Ricetti, in 2023 the Valdiguié really struggled to gain sugar . They were worried about it at first and wanted to hang it into late October, but the vines are old and were beginning to shut down so they decided to go with the season, and picked the fruit early, resulting in juice with less sugar and a resulting wine that is very low in alcohol (10%). However, they found the end result "shockingly bright and juicy," and are looking forward to watching this vintage age.

 

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Scar of the Sea was established in 2012 and is owned and operated by Gina and Mikey Giugni in San Luis Obispo, California. (Gina is also the force behind another Dandy fave, Lady of the Sunshine!) The Central Coast offers them the opportunity to live, work, and play by the sea, which is influential to the vineyards that they work with and how they spend their time.  The common thread to everything they produce is the belief that the best wines or ciders come from sites which have marine influenced climates and soils.

 

Scar of the Sea, Pinot Noir Rosé Methode Ancestral  -  A superlative sparkler from the West Coast: very bright and very vibrant, with tones of strawberry fields and citrus peels, and a rich, frothy mouthfeel. This wine is from the organically farmed Topotero Vineyard, located in Avila Beach, situated at the base of the Avila Valley, just 1.2 miles from the Pacific Ocean. The grapes are picked for natural acidity, and no additions or adjustments are made to the juice or fermentation.  The grapes are foot tread then pressed, and the juice ferments with native yeast in old French oak barrels. The wine is bottled at the end of the primary fermentation to capture the natural bubbles of fermentation in the bottle. 

 

 

Scar of the Sea ‘Vino de los Ranchos’ Pinot Noir  - Candied cherry, juicy cranberry, and earl grey tea leaves with character and complexity to spare. This wine is a blend of 3 separate picks from the organically farmed Rancho Ontiveros Vineyard located in the Santa Maria Valley AVA.  The wine was fermented with native yeast, using 33% whole cluster and the rest directly pressed.  The wine aged for 7 months in old French oak barrels and then bottled unfined and unfiltered. This is drinking beautifully now, and will continue to shine even more with time.