Looks like an interesting new article on Mission and Pais by Elaine Brown on the Jancis Robinson website. Unfortunately it’s subscriber-only so I can’t see more than the very beginning. Oh well…
For those who are able to read it, here’s part 2 of Elaine Brown’s report on Mission and Pais.
Too bad it’s behind a paywall.
Heard the Envinante guys had a big Pais tasting here in town, but didn’t know about it. Would have loved to attend.
TN: 2018 Proulx Mission Rosé: Great nose, well balanced and with soft tannins and a nice finish that lingers, albeit light. Close to my favorite color for a rosé, just right in tone. I’m a useless taster, so can’t go into any fruits or other sensory experiences, unfortunately. If I can fault it at all is that it’s perhaps a little overall thin, but as I said it’s a well balanced thinness across the board at 11.5%. At 12.5% I think this wine would have been a showstopper. Nevertheless a good buy and I’m glad I got 4 of them - they’ll drink well and go over well with people.
Tried Stirm’s 2018 Rosa de Peru today. He had warned it was pretty natty, and he wasn’t wrong! Funky (but not off), huge fruit and carbonic-ness, big tannins and an almost bitter end to those. Some smoky hints, with good acidity at the end. Can definitely taste that it’s Mission, but the nattiness almost overpowers it. It’s on the edge. He said he didn’t use SO2 for 2018, but will for 2019 and also mentions the 2019 is a hell of a lot better. Unlabeled. Taken from eh Wirz vineyard.
Pax just released a new Mission wine today in his Spring Release. (Adam mentioned him buying 20 tons in post #26)
2019 Pax Mission, Somer’s Vineyard
Savory and spicy on the nose this light red adds copious floral and fruity notes on the palate that mix with hints of pepper and umami to make for a deliciously quaffable red that has just enough crunchy tannin to keep everything in check.
100% Mission
100% Somers Vineyard, Mokelumne River, Lodi
100% Whole Cluster Fermentation
4-Month élevage in Neutral French Oak and one month in Concrete
Free So2 @ Bottling – 4ppm
3.6 pH
12.5% Abv
Planted in the dry riverbed at a sharp bend of the Lower Mokelumne River and presumed to date back to the the early 1900s, these old vines have exceptionally large trunks and many are over six feet tall. The deep sandy loam soils are incredibly well suited to dry farming and these vines have been farmed with organic products since day one. Delicious with tacos or tikka masala, Burgers or Bahn Mis, this light red is just about perfect with everything we’ve paired it with to date.
A photo to give you an idea of how tall some of the old Mission vines are at Somers Vineyard (it’s Somers, not Somer’s, BTW) - that’s Bryan Harrington checking out the vines on our first visit there in 2015.
I have to take some credit for finding this vineyard source, when I was working with Bryan Harrington. I was looking for Mission fruit in 2015 to make Angelica, and asked Marco Cappelli (the most knowledgeable winemaker regarding Angelica) if he had any tips. He mentioned Deaver but thought they would not have any fruit available, and then mentioned this vineyard, which didn’t even have a name at that time. I got in touch with the vineyard manager, and they did have fruit available. Most of their fruit at that time was going to a larger outfit - can’t recall who it was - and they weren’t doing anything very interesting with it.
I got Bryan Harrington to take a look at the vineyard with me and he loved it - sandy alluvial soil right in the Mokelumne River bottom - and decided to take some Mission fruit himself to see if we could make a good wine from it. We experimented with several different fermentation techniques and what we liked best was 50% each carbonic and foot-trod whole cluster. The wine was then aged for a few months in neutral French oak and bottled in early Spring. Made some good early-drinking 2015 Mission wine from that, and the Angelica turned out really well too. Likely the first “serious” dry Mission wine to come from that site (IIRC Marco had made some Angelica from here).The Somers name comes from the vineyard property owner.
I help out with bottling at Broc Cellars and got Chris Brockway connected with the vineyard manager in 2016 - I believe he’s continuing to work with fruit from there. Now that Bryan is no longer making wine, it’s great to see Chris, Adam, and now Pax continue working with Somers Vineyard Mission.
Thanks for the history lesson Ken!
I am very excited to try it! I’ll pop open a bottle next weekend and share my impression.
Wow. Didn’t know he already released! Only 4 months of elevage. Funny how different our approaches are to winemaking with Mission, but that’s what makes it so interesting. I don’t know Pax at all, but will have to see if I can trade a bottle or two of his for a few of mine.
As for Somers, it’s been a great little vineyard and I’ll continue to take from there as it produces excellent results. But I do have a lead up in Placerville for 75 year old Mission and I’d be interested to make a smaller batch of that higher elevation fruit next year as well. In fact, I’m probably pairing back next year on other red varietals and focusing even more on Mission. It’s just an exceptional little grape that has a unique tasting profile.
Should be cool to see how that higher elevation Mission turns out, Adam.
What a wonderful & incredibly informative thread.
We’re currently pouring two of the Gonzalez Bastias selections by the glass at the wine bar I work at and it’s my first real experience with Pais. The Tinaja is sort of like gamay gone bad (in a good way) with a lovely wild, spicy quality - great with a slight chill on it - and the Naranjo skin contact is like elderflower juice; has incredible freshness missing from so many orange wines that I crave if I’m going to have more than a few sips and people of all levels of experience with wine seem to absolutely adore it. I’ve also had their Matorral which seems to have a bit more oomph, rusticity and pepperiness.
I would love the chance to try some of the California expressions mentioned here.
Thanks to all again for showcasing this beguiling grape!
Pax 2019 Mission
Criolla Chica from Argentina. Notes below from a tasting I attended this past Saturday.
Bodega y Viñedos Catena
This century-old Argentine family winery from the Mendoza region launched a new “La Marchigiana” program of natural wines in 2019 with three bottlings – Chardonnay, Criolla Chica, and Bonarda. These wines are fermented in tinajas – traditional clay vessels similar to amphorae or qvevri. They poured one wine at the event, the 2017 “La Marchigiana” Criolla Chica, from Mendoza, with no added sulfur. Criolla Chica is the same grape variety as País in Chile and Mission in California, and the similar character was evident – light color with upfront red fruit, undertones of earth and herbs, and fairly light body with a lively texture and finish.
They misspelled the vineyard on the label.
So, how is the Pax one?
Well, I’ve seen vineyard names, AVAs, even grape varieties misspelled on wine labels. I know some were typos that didn’t get caught when checking the label proofs, but I’m sure that others were due to not knowing how things were properly spelled. It happens.
Pretty neat wine. 12.5 abv but a pretty intense tannin structure. A lot of spicy , floral and savory notes not much fruit. Served chilled and with food. I bought a 6 pack for a buddy and took one bottle but I don’t see myself seeking this out again. Still a very interesting and good wine for $18.
Thanks for the note, Hank. It would be interesting to taste this alongside the other Missions from Somers Vineyard - Sabelli-Frisch, Broc, and Harrington. Though I don’t know whether there’s any Harrington Mission still available anywhere - 2017 was the last vintage we released and it was always meant for early drinking.
The “not much fruit” aspect of your tasting note is largely why we did 50% whole cluster and 50% carbonic with the Mission at Harrington - whole cluster to provide structure and complexity and carbonic to bring out the fruit. We experimented with several fermentation techniques the first year we got the fruit (2015) and that combination worked best for giving us what we were looking for. Mission does tend to have more tannin than you’d expect for such a light-colored red.
Yes, Mission is more tannic than it would appear.
Cross Post.
From a Vineyard planted in 1854!! Now those are some old vines
2017 Sandlands Mission Amador County Wine:
Fruity raspberry candy, spicy nose. Cranberry-raspberry red fruit flavors, big hit of cinnamon stick and hints of sweet orange. Fruit is plenty ripe but not overdone. Low on acidity but not clumsy as there is some tannin to help keep it fresh. 2017 vintage shows here. Fruit is ripe but still staying on the “red” side. Overall, not a profound wine but very drinkable and enjoyable. I can see putting a slight chill on this for the hot summer weather. 12.9% ABV for those interested. After having this I would love to try the 2018 version to see vintage differences.
