from release newsletter:

2014 Wirz Riesling: This is a special vineyard. First off, it is from the Cienega Valley. Yeah, I didn’t know where it was when I first heard about it either. The appellation is south of Gilroy on the eastern side of the Gabilan Range, think Calera (in fact Calera’s first wine, a Zinfandel, came from this vineyard back in the early 1980s). The vines are own-rooted and planted in 1963, which makes it the second oldest Riesling planting after Stony Hill in California; actually, it is tied for second-oldest as our friend Rory Williams’ plot in Napa was also planted in 1963 (check out his Calder wines!). The Riesling also has a little Sylvaner interplanted in it, which the owner Pat Wirz calls by the name indigenous to California “Franken Riesling.” The wine was fermented with native yeast in a neutral oak upright tank and aged for 6 months on lees prior to bottling. Dry, stony, floral and perfumed this is a fun and delicious expression of Riesling. More Heiligenstein than Graacher Himmelriech, more Riquevillean than Sharzhofian. No I didn’t just make those words up. $18

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