Born to lose.
Benny, like many things in life, was complicated. A drifter and a derelict. A guy with high-class taste, and low-life habits. A gambler and a cheat. Someone who could spend the night under an overpass, then talk his way into a Michelin-star restaurant. A rolling stone. He could fix a carburetor with a pocket knife, and recite Jean-Paul Sartre. A paradox in motion. You know Benny.
Inspired by this vagabond renaissance man, we wanted to craft a wine that's equally complex and nuanced. Something that melded grapes from the right side of the train tracks with something that's long been under appreciated and respected: Freisa.
Freisa is an underdog of a grape. Its lineage is ancient, however, tracing its roots back to Piemonte, Italia, with DNA most closely matching that of Nebbiolo. For many years, Freisa was seen as a "peasant wine," most commonly planted and vinted by farmers, while prestige winemakers worked with flashier grapes.
When the Siletto Family in San Benito County told us they had some, we had to give this grape a shot. We knew that under the hands of a loving, detailed, and patient winemaking team, we could make this wayfarer of a grape the star it deserves to be.
Sitting about 600 feet in elevation, about 30 miles east of the Monterey Bay, sits the Tres Pinos Vineyard. Planted in 1992, this site is home to organically farmed Freisa, alongside 13 other varieties. Thanks to the soper gravelly loam soil and Pacific influence, our Freisa thrives, developing beautiful flavors alongside the acidity and tannins that the variety is known for. Once picked, we pressed our Freisa whole-cluster before introducing it to neutral French oak to allow it to mellow.
For the highbrow part of Benny, we turned to Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. Picked from the type of noteworthy vineyard that wields a mighty NDA and would never want its name associated with a character like Benny, it's that good-good shit. You'll just have to trust us on that. This site sits in a slightly cooler area of Napa Valley, which allows the fruit to hang longer and ripen more evenly. From there, we meticulously de-stemmed and sorted the grapes, before sending them into a long and extended barrel fermentation to develop those rich, silky flavors and texture that Napa Valley Cab is known for. Then, off to new French oak to develop.
The rest of this winemaking story plays out like Lady and the Tramp. As it turns out, Freisa and Cabernet Sauvignon don't just complement each other, they are a power couple. Freisa brings a rustic rebelliousness to the table, with notes of freshly cut strawberries, savoriness, and juicy acidity. Cabernet Sauvignon brings its decadent texture and dark fruit flavor.
Benny's the type of wine that'll keep you guessing, but in a good way. It's got a dark garnet hue with electric crimson perimeter. It smells like wild strawberries, dark cherries, and dried roses. Once it glides across your tongue, enjoy a tug-of-war between the balsamic spice and dried herbs of the Freisa, and inky blackcurrant flavors of the Cabernet Sauvignon. It's simultaneously silky, but with a firm grip. Untamed on the edges, but lush at its core. It's a deliciously satisfying and complex wine that has depth and soul.
Just like Benny. Or at least what we've heard about Benny. See, most people have only heard legend of our hitchhiking, bar-fighting, friend. But nobody really knows him. What kind of life leads to getting a tattoo that reads "born to lose?" It's like he's lifted from a Bukowski novel, or somebody Hunter S. Thompson would have crossed paths with. The sort of free-spirited, rebel we all sometimes yearn to be.
Benny is lowly Freisa, on the road with swanky Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, getting kicked out of a casino just outside of Reno for counting cards and tasting too good.
Only 24 cases of Benny were made and wax-dipped exclusively for our beloved MADE Club members. It drops Friday, March 21, at 9 AM PT.
