2019 Buena Onda, Carbonic Carignan, Evangelho Vineyard, Contra Costa County

These times...they're heavy, and if you're anything like us, there's a lot on your mind right now. But we'll be damned if we let it crush our souls. We've worked too hard and dreamed too big to let go now. So we choose to pursue Buena Onda. To worry less and smile more. To be grateful and compassionate to those that need it most, including ourselves. 

To capture this mindset, we created a blissfully fresh red wine for the summer. Buena Onda is a 100% Carbonic Carignan from the legendary Evangelho Vineyard. Most widely grown in southern France, we love Carignan for its bright red fruit flavors and medium body, but Bertus wanted to get weird with this pick, so we didn't try to stop him.

Harvested at sunrise on September 5, 2019, our old vine fruit underwent Carbonic Maceration, a technique we used for wines like Some Girls and Going Home, where we place whole clusters of grapes into bins and tanks and pump in carbon dioxide to remove oxygen. This anaerobic environment causes the grapes to release an enzyme that converts the sugar into alcohol, which bursts the berries. After seven days, we pressed the grapes to stainless steel vessels, where native yeast finished the fermentation process. Sounds geeky? It is. But it's f**king cool. 

What's even more f**king cool is where we got our Carignan from. Ask any Somm or winemaker about Evangelho Vineyard, and they will tell you it is as sacred as vineyards come. Some say it's California's greatest vineyard. This 140-year-old vineyard is sandwiched between a Burger King and the power plant from the Simpsons, but home to some of the oldest vines in California. Head-trained, and own-rooted, these gnarly old beasts grow in this beachy alluvial sand along the Sacramento River Delta in Antioch. Maybe it's the overhead power lines or the neighboring Motel that rents by the hour, but something about this place is magical, and the wines that come off the property must be tasted to believe are possible. Don't believe us? Then believe Esther Mobley.

So what's the vibe? Chill. Awesome aromas of cranberry, raspberry, cinnamon, and brown sugar. Then an explosion of bright red fruit, fresh sage, cardamon, tea leaves, and rose water flavors. The carbonic, juicy tannins are perfectly balanced and integrated across the palate, with this easy-going lightness carrying big bursts of fruit flavor. It's the type of red wine you'll slightly chill and sip out on your patio while watching the waves roll by. Maybe with some vinyl on, if you can.

To complement our Buena Onda ethos, we used a vintage flea market painting of a cool turquoise ocean for the label and bottled these in our popular shorty glass (and yes, they're 750 mL). Like many of our recent wines, Buena Onda is unfined and unfiltered, so don't be afraid if it's a little dirty. The whole project turned out better than we hoped for, and this will definitely be a wine Tank collectors will want in their stash. Only 43 cases made.

Sold Out

Living the good life.