Wedderspoon Wine & Spirits

2022 Skin Contact Cortese, Lost Slough Vineyard, Clarksburg 

Matt fermented about 1/3 of the Cortese I received on skins for 13 days in an open-top puncheon. Then pressed to neutral oak barrels. Here are your Orange Wine training wheels. Notes of Meyer lemon, ginger, pineapples, subtle tannin, and a “is this even Orange Wine” quality this is a very approachable introduction.

2022 Skin Contact Chenin Blanc, Heringer Estates, Clarksburg 

Fermented on skins until dry, around 13 days, then pressed to neutral oak for aging.  This new vintage of Orange wine is very reminiscent of the previous vintage. Showing a much more savory side of Chenin Blanc than the Direct Press. Orange pith, lemongrass, chamomile, button mushrooms, autumnal flavors.

2022 Direct Press Cortese, Lost Slough Vineyard, Clarksburg 

This wine did not see any skin contact, it was pressed directly over Vermentino skins, then fermented and aged in neutral oak. A stark difference from the racy wines of Gavi, the direct press shows a fair amount of body and weight.  Dole pineapple, bright white peach, papaya.

2022 Direct Press Chenin Blanc, Heringer Estates, Clarksberg

Similarly to the previous iteration, this wine was on skins for a short period of time prior to pressing over Fiano skins. 24 hours as opposed to 80 hours in 2021. The wine reflects this by presenting plenty of texture, but with a more linear body than before. Fermented and aged in neutral oak. Lime peel, green apple, classic Chenin Blanc beeswax.

2022 Sunrise in Afterglow - Mendocino rosato / chilled red thing

Syrah from Poor Ranch. Old, dry farmed, head trained vines up in the mountains west of Hopland. A site that basks in solar energy. The Poor family is well known in California natural wine lore. Absentee sources all of his fruit from them. Les Lunes, R. Oneil Latta, Martha Stoumen, Tony Coturri, and many others have worked with their fruit. They do things the old way. John keeps a fleet of ancient tractors running to do the disking and sulfur dusting and not much else happens. They planted vines back in the day because there wasn't enough water to cultivate anything else. Yields are generally below 2 tons per acre. The low yields and intense sun can make it challenging to pick grapes at the perfect level of sugar, as they can go from under ripe to over ripe in 3-4 days and picking decisions need to happen generally more than a week out. In 2022 we nailed the pick date. We filled a tank with beautiful clusters and sealed it up for a week of carbonic before being pressed to barrels for a year and blended with a touch of Sauvignon Blanc. Crunchy, cusp of ripeness, jolly rancher fruit. Lip smacking and hydrating. More taught and acid driven than the 2020 vintage.

2022 In Love with a Memory - Lime Kiln Valley Sauvignon Blanc

Ancient Sauvignon Blanc from historic Enz Vineyard on limestone and granite in an almost forgotten great California viticultural region in the shadow of the Gabilan Mountains in Southern San benito County. It is an honor to work with this site that so many great winemakers and wineries have produced benchmark wines from. The Sauvignon Blanc had been grafted over to red grapes at some point in the past, but a few years ago they cut below those red grafts to allow the old Sauvignon material to come back. Dry farmed Sauvignon Blanc from these warmer and dryer sites can be finicky to grow and ferment. But the results are impressive. This wine is inspired by my old cuvee ‘Sapphires, Samphires, and Saturn Returns’. Using what I learned from that wine, this first release of ILWAM turned out pretty darn good I think. Destemmed and macerated for just over a week. Pressed before fermentation really even kicked off. It was one of the first picks of the season and the last wine to go to barrel. The ferment in tank was so so so slow. The wine rested in barrel for a year. Light oxidative character tempering the lush California tropical fruit and ripe citrus and locking in the added density of its soft extraction.  I really enjoy drinking this wine now after almost a year in bottle. But I think back to a 2020 Sapphires that I drank with some friends in New York recently, and I smile thinking of how good its going to be in 2 or 3 more years.

2022 Eternal Returns - Santa Cruz Mountains Pinot

22 year old Pinot planted in the Summit region of the Santa Cruz Mountains at 1700-1800ft by Gerhard Schlecht as a retirement project. At the end of 2019, I took over management when Gerhard could no longer keep up with the vines. Organic and no tilling. No tractor. Everything done by hand. Less intensely affected by the drought this season than the vines were in 2021. We had a good fog season in 2022 relieving the vines from the heat and dryness. A steady growing season. We had some powdery mildew outbreaks in a few sections dropping our yields and a small heatspell in early August that ushered the grapes to maturity. We pick slowly, sorting out any damaged clusters and end our picks with a luxurious picnic and maybe a dip in the pool before shuttling the grapes back to the winery. Destemmed. Two pump overs a day for about a week. In barrel for a year. This cuvee is made of primarily press wine. The free run goes into the cuvee called Rituals on Repeat to be released at a later date. Very serious Pinot fruit packed into the palate. It gushes over your tongue and seems to just keep flowing across even though you stopped sipping a minute ago. The aromatics are slightly quiet on opening, but after some air…  Lucky imbibers stop their conversations and say ‘damn’, sniff again, and knowing smiles sneak up from the ends of mouths. It feels like a wine that is going to impress some natural wine haters and California skeptics as it ages.

2022 Sufficiently Whelming - Redwood Valley Sauvignon Blanc/Chardonnay

FIrst off, I think I should acknowledge that this name is misleading. Intentionally so I think, but I can’t really remember now as the reasons have changed over time for how it got the name and how it stuck. But this is consistently one of my favorite white natural wines from California, and the wines I made in my first vintage with the fruit, 2019, are still improving and thrilling those that have had the foresight and patience to hold some back(for reference the 2019 clear glass bottling was tank fermented and barrel aged for 7 months. The brown glass bottling was barrel fermented and aged for two years). Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay from vines planted in the 40s at Lolonis in Redwood Valley. Organic and dry farmed. The owners are finally moving away from tilling after many conversations and sharings of books and presentations. This is a quite radical move for organic farmers in Mendocino county, where the standard operating procedure is to break the soil constantly to keep any plant ‘competition’ from growing. This eastern edge of the valley is blessed with frequent bathings of cold and wet ocean air depositing blankets of fog that burn off late mornings and slow the ripening of the grapes and relieve the vines of water stress. The sauvignon blanc here always gets a bit of botrytits if allowed to ripen fully, but in 2022 there was more of this magical fungus than I have ever seen at this site. Likely a product of the heatwave that the vines sat through. The Chardonnay was picked on day 3 of the September heat event. The Sav Blanc trailed by a few weeks. Both went through a long and soft pressing. The Sav Blanc fermenting in stainless before going to neutral barrels. The Chardonnay fermented and aged in puncheons. After a year in wood they were blended in equal parts and bottled following a short rest in stainless. There is weight and body from the botrytis laden Sauvignon along with all of the character the fungus brings: saffron, marmalade, glycerol. But there is more than enough focus and lift. The bottles open with that fancy flinty reduction that we love and know from our favorite whites of Burgundy and Jura. Though as typing this, I’m also thinking of some great Chenins from the Loire which also may be predisposed to some botrytis. In fact when I first started working with this site, I thought the Sauvignon was possibly Chenin. 

2022 Chardonnay, Vino de los Ranchos, Santa Maria Valley

The 2022 vintage of Vino de los Ranchos Chardonnay comes from the old vine plantings from 1973 at the Rancho Vinedo Vineyard and younger vines planted in 2006 at the Rancho Ontiveros Vineyard, both located in Santa Maria Valley.  The grapes were farmed using organic farming practices and were picked for natural acidity. The grapes were whole bunch pressed and fermented with native yeast in neutral french oak barrels. The wine aged on lees for 19 months before its first racking for bottling.  The wine was bottled with minimal sulfur, unfined and unfiltered. 

2023 Pinot Noir, Vino de los Ranchos, Santa Maria Valley

This wine is a blend of younger plantings from the Rancho Ontiveros Vineyard and old vine plantings from the Rancho Vinedo Vineyard, from 1973.  Both of these vineyards are farmed using organic farming practices in Santa Maria Valley.  The 2023 vintage is a compilation of 3 separate picks, fermented with native yeast and with partial whole cluster.  The wine aged for 8 months in old french oak barrels and was bottled with minimal sulfur, without fining or filtration.

2022 'Old Vine' Syrah, Ibarra-Young Vineyard, Santa Barbara

The 2021 Ibarra Young Syrah comes from a vineyard tended to by our good friend, Alice Anderson, who shares many of the same regenerative farming philosophies as GG and I.  The vineyard was planted in 1971 and was farmed for Qupe most of its life.  It is a special place and helps us tell the stories of some of Santa Barbara counties first vineyard plantings. The fruit was fermented with native yeast and with 100% whole cluster.  The wine was pressed in our wooden basket press and aged for 10 months in neutral french oak barrels. Think black cherry, crushed graphite, & violets with a crunch

2023 ‘Old Vine’ Zinfandel, Lopez Vineyard, Cucamonga Valley

Planted in 1918, 70 miles inland from Los Angeles and certified organic by CCOF, this vineyard is part of California history.  Farmed today by the Galleano family, we are lucky to be able to make wine from this historic vineyard.  The vines are farmed without irrigation in granite rocks and sandy soil surrounded by freeways and track homes. This vineyard is one of the last reminders of an old California. The grapes were picked on August 14th and were fermented with native yeast and 50% whole cluster.  This wine aged for 8 months in old French oak barrels before being bottled with minimal sulfur, without fining or filtration. 264 cases were produced.

2023 Goldie, Sauvignon Blanc,  Gewurztraminer, Chardonnay, Stolo Vineyard, SLO Coast

This blend is a combination of 3 white varieties, farmed by our good friend Rajat Parr at the organically farmed Stolo Vineyard in the northern part of the SLO Coast AVA, in Cambria.  The Gewurztraminer was destemmed and then fermented with 5 days of skin contact, while the Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay were foot tread and soaked on skins overnight before being pressed the next day.  All the juice was fermented with native yeast in neutral french oak barrels. The wine went through malolactic fermentation and aged on lees for 10 months.  The wine was blended at racking for bottling, with minimal sulfur used, unfined and unfiltered.  264 cases were produced

2023 Pinot Noir, Chene Vineyard, Edna Valley *certified biodynamic

This vintage is a composite blend of the steepest hillside blocks that sit on Monterey formation rock bed.  This site is naturally devigored and makes for concentrated, small clusters that achieve stem lignification early on.  The grapes were fermented with 100% whole-cluster with light extraction during fermentation.  The wine was pressed in our wooden basket press at dryness and aged for 10 months in neutral french oak barrels before being racked for the first time to bottle, unfined and unfiltered, with minimal sulfur used.  302 cases were produced.

2023 Chardonnay, Wheeler Vineyard, San Benito County

First planted to Wente Clone on AXR1 rootstock in 1977, Wheeler Vineyard is located in Tres Pinos, California. Farmed organically by the Siletto family and their team. Light foot treading before loading the press. Native fermentation in neutral puncheon, french oak barrels and stainless steel drums. Barrels were moved into the cold room to pause malolactic fermentation based on taste. Aged in neutral oak puncheon, barrel and stainless steel drums. Pale yellow, with aromas of lemon blossom, Bartlett pear, a touch of banana Runts and a hint of reduction. The aromatics are echoed on the palate, with the addition of white rose and the smallest hint of dried tea. With ripping acid, it finishes juicy and cleanses the palate. 138 cases made.

2023 Cabernet Franc, Black Ridge Vineyard, Santa Cruz Mountains

Black Ridge Vineyard is located on the slopes of the Santa Cruz Mountains. Farmed organically by Bill Brosseau and his team, and planted in 1999, our Cabernet Franc comes from a block at the top of the vineyard. We split the lot into 3 separate ferments: one ton destemmed, one ton whole cluster, and one ton carbonic. Each spent about 18 days on the skins, and were drained separately, but pressed together. We kept the lots separate in neutral puncheon and oak barrels until creating the final blends. Medium ruby in color, with aromas of blackberry, black currant, raspberry, hibiscus with a hint of pepper spice. On the palate, it has a classic Bordeaux fruit profile, only fresher. Cherry mixes with hibiscus, and the acidity is a welcome counterpoint to the power. 250 cases made.

2023 Valdiguie, Green Valley Vineyard, Solano County

Green Valley Vineyard in Solano County is a hidden gem only 15 minutes East of South Napa. Old vines planted in 1984, Valdiguié was widely known as Napa Gamay. Organically farmed by a team lead by Canalisio (who’s been farming the vineyard since first plantings), this site has well-draining soil and calm bay breezes off the San Pablo that moderate the temperature. We split the fruit into three separate lots: one ton carbonic, one ton whole cluster and one ton de-stemmed. The carbonic portion was wrapped up for a 7 day carbonic ferment. The whole cluster portion was foot-trod before fermenting. The de-stemmed portion started with a two day cold soak before native fermentation kicked off. Blended together in barrel, aged in neutral french oak barrels and one puncheon. Deep ruby in color, aromatics of mixed berry, pomegranate, bramble, tea, and violet with a hint of licorice spice. Super juicy on the palate with candied red and blue fruit and crunchy texture. Our ode to old-school “Napa Gamay”. 155 cases made

2022 Fair Trade Chardonnay, Mendocino

Clone 4 Chardonnay from Mendocino is sent directly to press where it settles for 48 hours and then is moved to neutral oak barrels for primary & secondary fermentation. The wine is then racked, and returned to neutral oak where it ages for 8 months before being bottled unfiltered. As is this case with all of our wines, the wine was fermented with 100% ambient/native yeast and the only additive used was S02. Acid laced, front to back. Drawing its depth and richness from full malolactic conversion and micro-oxidation via neutral oak aging, this wine then plants its flag in the lemon/salty/briney acid head camp. Clocking in at 11.8% alcohol and 0% new oak it’s a far cry from the classic California Chardonnay but it pulls no punches when it comes to being magnetically delicious.

2023 Block Party (skin contact wine)  Pinot Gris, Riesling, Gewürztraminer, Potter Valley / Dry Creek Valley

Deeply tropical and inherently aromatic, the wine holds all the niceties of skin maceration without losing freshness. Tension is brought about by ripeness and lift on the palate without losing the fundamental operative of being delicious. The swiss army knife of skin contact wines. The Pinot Gris and Gewürztraminer were de-stemmed and fermented on the skins for 15 days, then pressed and finished both primary and secondary fermentation in neutral French oak. The Riesling came in five weeks later with a kiss of noble rot, and it went direct to press, and was fermented in stainless steel before being moved to neutral oak for secondary fermentation. Both lots were aged sur lie and only racked once for blending/bottling. 100% native yeast and the only addition was S02.

2023 Credits & Cameos - Gamay, Trousseau, Pinot Noir, Everywhere Nor Cal

An assemblage of three separate varietals and vineyards. The Gamay (Sonoma) was vinified 100% carbonically and pressed after 21 days in tank. The Trousseau (Tres Pinos) was de-stemmed, and fermented in stainless steel, before being moved to neutral oak for aging. The pinot (Napa) was foot tread and left on the skins for two days before being pressed and moved to neutral oak for fermentation. All similar approaches in the vineyard. Trellised vines with alternating row tillage and deficit irrigation. The Lovall Valley & San Benito sites experience cooler nights and extended fog in the morning, whereas the gamay in Sonoma experiences more extended sunlight. Posh, red fruits, mossy oak trees, decaying foliage, and a general air of ruggedness hovers in the background of this sun-kissed California cruiser.