Because Cyrano was French, we wanted to create a wine using a notable French varietal. There are very few wineries in California bottling Grenache as a single varietal wine. Most vineyards throughout Sonoma County have limited acreage devoted to this Rhône varietal as it’s primarily used as a blending grape for Syrah-based wines. Over the years, we’ve used Grenache in a number of our red blends, all while contemplating a way to get our hands on enough to create a single-varietal expression of this dramatic red grape that enchants us with its unique combination of red fruits, peppery spice character, and garrigue notes. Eventually, we found a vineyard that produces exquisite Grenache, with enough acreage to create this poetic wine.

2016 was a traditional vintage in terms of weather. A cold, rainy winter prepared the vines for good yields and helped prolong the season, giving the vines extra hang time to accumulate flavor intensity. This vintage yielded outstanding fruit with excellent concentration.