Q3 2023 Daily Drinker Club

Sola Winery
Sola Winery is a small independent endeavor with big ambitions.  In 2007 friends and business partners Tim Halikas and Greg Buonocore launched Sola with the goal of producing the highest quality West Coast wines as possible while maintaining the lowest possible sustainable prices. 

As Tim puts it, “Thankfully I live frugally.” 

2021 Central Coast Rose

• 800 cases produced
• 100% Grenache
• Fermented in 100% Stainless steel tanks

Tasting notes: 
Grenache makes for a wonderful version of blush wine. Dry and crisp with strawberry and stone fruit aromatics. Tannins are firm but soft leading to a clean finish.

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About Markus Wine Co

• Produces ~1,000 cases per year across Vermentino, Kerner, Gewuerztraminer, a Petite Sirah blend, a Zinfandel blend, Carignan and a Sparkling Bacchus
• No public tasting room

Founded in 2014, Markus Wine Co. began as a subventure ofLodi’s first boutique winery, Borra Vineyards. Swiss-born winemaker Markus Niggli selects from wisely-planted ancient vines and newly-planted unusual offerings throughout the Lodi region to craft small-produc­tion bottlings. 

You can sum up our winemaking in two words: fruit and age. We want wines to be “zeitlos” – ageless and memorable – to drink young or with a decade or more of age, and still be absolutely elegant. Our wines are fruit-driven, but balanced with above-average acidity, and soft, integrated tannins, to be enjoyed with meals. We believe real winemaking happens out in the vineyard, so that in the winery we do as little as possible, using natural yeast and natural ML.

For what’s on the bottles, Markus explains, “People, like wine, are shaped by unique places,” which is why each label brings together a location from Markus’s past with the current grape source. Creative expressions of the locations are realized through a long-term collaboration with label designer Michael Leonard and his students at the University of the Pacific in Stockton. 

About the 2020 Zeitlos Lodi Syrah

• 120 cases produced
• 75% Syrah, 18% Petite Sirah, 5% Carignane, 2% Alicante Bouschet
• 18-20 months – 50% once filled French oak, rest neutral oak

Tasting notes:

Perhaps our most age-worthy wine, this elegantly-structured Syrah blend is chock full of up-front fruit, notably black plum, cherry, then coffee, with lingering spiciness including pepper on the finish. It’s all enticingly weighty, dry and savory in a very European way.  Let it age for another year or more to see what emerges.  

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Idell Family Vineyards

• Idell Family Vineyards (IFV) is located on Carriger Road, approximately 2.5 miles West of the town of Sonoma. Approximately seven acres of beautiful vineyards are surrounded by Sonoma hills and other vineyards.
• There is no public tasting room
• Produces 400-500 cases annually, including a Chardonnay, Syrah, and a Grenache/Syrah/Mourvedre blend.
• Idell Family Vineyards is a family owned grape growing and wine production business. The award winning wines have been recognized as exceptional by Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate, James Suckling and others.  

2018 MB-5V Red Wine

• A field blend of Zinfandel, Petite Sirah, Carignane, Mourvèdre and Grenache
• 97 cases produced
• 18 months in 40% new American oak, 60% neutral

The Idell Family Vineyards MB-5V Red Wine is a wine of exceptional heritage. The vineyard is located on land which was part of the original Carriger Estate of Nicholas Carriger who came to Sonoma in 1846 (the same year as the Donner Party) and purchased his 1000 acre parcel from General Vallejo.  Carriger reportedly was the first American to grow wine grapes commercially in Sonoma Valley.  This wine is an homage to the old Sonoma Valley style of grape growing and winemaking:  dry farmed and head-pruned, with five co-fermented varietals as in “old vine” vineyards with mixed varietals.  In the case of Idell Family Vineyard’s MB-5V, vines were intentionally planted at random in 2006 with the help and direction of Napa viticulturist Steve Matthiasson.  In the same vineyard are:  Zinfandel, Petite Sirah, Carignane, Mourvèdre and Grenache.  The vineyard is in an area that we refer to Les Galets due to the plentiful round river rocks that abound, likely a result of an alluvial stream deposit or landslide that cascaded rocks and volcanic soil into the vineyard area in the valley below Sonoma Mountain. The vines, after seventeen years, are gaining girth and each vine is beginning to develop its own individual character with gnarly twisting and turning trunks that head pruned vines often acquire.

Tasting Notes

The Idell Family Vineyards 2018 MB-5V – Red Wine is a very rich, complex, robust field blend with notes of blackberry, raspberry and chocolate.

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Andis Wines

• Located in Plymouth, CA
• Produces ~9,000 cases per year across Zinfandel, Barbera, Cabernet Franc, Petite Sirah, Grenache, Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, Arinto and others.
• They winery practices dry and sustainable farming, and is majority female owned and operated
• The wines are made in partnership with consulting winemaker Philippe Melka. 

2021 Painted Vines Old Vine Zinfandel

• 2,000 cases produced
• 95% Zinfandel, 5% Barbera
• Fermented with native yeast in Stainless Steel for up to 2 weeks and aged in 15% new French oak barrels for 14 months

Painted Fields Old Vine Zinfandel pays homage to our farmers who believed in Zinfandel and held these vineyards for decades, and in some cases, over a century. Sourced from different vineyards through-out the Sierra Foothills AVA region, it composes an elegant red wine similar to what was likely produced here in the early days before Zinfandel wine became a jammy fruit bomb. 

Tasting notes: 

This big, full-bodied Zin offers a mouthful of chewy tannins that feel purposeful and balanced because of the excellent fruit concentration and well-integrated oak character. Its engaging aromas and flavors recall blackberry, black cherry, black plum, chocolate, star anise, and tobacco.  

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Byrd Vineyard 

• 2,300 elevation in Mayacamas Range
• No public tasting room; small party accommodations can be made per special appointment to enjoy on porch overlooking the vineyards 
• Produce 1,000 cases per year across Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Red Blend, and Chardonnay. 

Pioneering California’s newest and highest elevations for purest fruit and intense flavor.  Byrd Vineyard stays as true as possible to Andre Tchelistcheff methods, “the winemakers winemaker” as Bruce Byrd accredits him to putting Napa Valley on the map. 

2012 Cabernet Sauvignon

• 250 cases produced
• 95.5% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4.5% Merlot
• 3 years in 50% new French oak

Tasting Notes
Elevation Matters. At 2,400 feet above the valley floor, Cabernet Sauvignon takes on a distinctive Bordeaux character. The wine’s fruit opens slowly in perfect sync with a fine meal or related conversation. Patience rewards with layers of red and black currants that warm like the rich, deep, soul-shaking strokes of a bow on a cello. Racy staccato spice and French horn vanilla compete to dominate the finish. The symphony elevates toward the last movement, lingering in memory beyond time.

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Muscardini Cellars 

• Small, family-owned winery in Kenwood, CA (Sonoma)
• Produces ~5,000 cases per year
• Public tasting room is located in Kenwood, where you can sample their other productions: Sangiovese, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Barbera, Merlot, Pinot Grigio, Rosato, Red Blends and Vermouth
• Small winery focused on catering to their customers and providing a first class experience. Their grapes are sourced from premium vineyards and personally selected by Muscardini’s winemaker, which lends itself to their luxury wine selections.

2019 Fortuna Proprietary Red Blend

• 742 cases produced.
• 40% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Zinfandel, 18% Syrah, 8% Merlot, 2% Petit Verdot, and 2% Petite Sirah

Tasting Notes:
With a captivating dark red hue, this full-bodied red wine dazzles the senses the moment it hits the glass. On the nose, the fresh aromas of wild berries are interlaced with nuances of fresh lavender, dark chocolate truffle, baking spices, and cigar box. As the profile expands on the palate, the generous flavors of ripe blackberry, blueberry, dark cherry and fresh currants are layered with hints of cocoa, cassis, allspice, and wild sage. The plush and velvety texture, bright acidity, fine tannins, and firm structure make this a beautiful wine to enjoy now, or age in your cellar. Pairs well with blue cheese, wild mushroom risotto, slow-roasted pork with creamy herb sauce, garlic-crusted rack of lamb, and grilled steaks with chimichurri sauce.