Our Fall Club drop is a cue that party season is upon us.
The STC Team has been working hard these last few months harvesting grapes and creating the 2022 vintage wines. We’re almost done with harvest, but until then, we have some fun new wines and other beverages to stock your fridges and share with your loved ones (& those other random people that show up to the table).
We’re excited to introduce you to some new wines and release new vintages of winery staples.
Here’s what you have to look forward to!
Many of you are familiar with Lunatic, as we’ve made a Syrah under this label in 2018 and 2019. As of the 2021 vintage and beyond, the Lunatic label will be Zinfandel instead of Syrah. We’ve always been enamored with this variety for a number of reasons. It is truly a classic California variety, with a lot of old school sensibility. We wanted to make Lunatic to express a more serious side of Zinfandel. Lunatic comes from an 8-acre planting from 1870. Five generations of the Ciapusci Family have tended to this breathtaking property–Shawn Ciapusci is its current steward. These grapes are dry-farmed and grown high up in the fog line on the Mendocino Coast. The only way to get there is along the rugged Fish Rock Road from Yorkville or the coast. It’s an intense drive but the views alone are worth the struggle up the mountain. The grapes themselves have an inherent tobacco spice that shows through in the wine, along with a vibrant blueberry and violet burst of flavor. It has quite a bit of tannin and structure, so we suggest enjoying this wine with a hearty meal. The wine is savory and fruity all at the same time and we are really proud of this wine and how it turned out. Serve this wine at cellar temp (58-62 degrees) but not too cold or you’ll lose a lot of aromatics and over-accentuate the tannin.
Tastes like ripe blueberries, dried violets, burnt orange & sweet tobacco.
Sleepless Nights is a wine we’ve made since our first vintage in 2017. Sunhawk Farms has been a place we’ve always admired and dreamed of working with long before STC was founded. This biodynamic vineyard in Hopland is pure magic and allows us to make a true field blend of red & white grapes: Syrah, Grenache, Mourvèdre, Counoise, Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon, Muscat, Viognier, Picpoul Blanc & Roussanne. Sleepless Nights is a nod to our favorite wines of the Languedoc-Roussillon region of Southern France where this style of wine has been made for generations. Each grape adds something to the mix and brings this wine together for an aromatic, punchy, refreshing red wine that truly has a place for any occasion.
Tastes like maraschino cherries, marionberries, agave and sage.
We’re calling this vintage of Pet Nat, ‘Pet Not’. You’ll notice the bottle says sparkling but this vintage, the wine had other plans. Making sparkling wine in this style is inherently risky as we’re relying upon the wine to finish fermentation in the bottle where we have even less control than we do before the wine is bottled. Anway, the bubbly just didn’t bubble this year. The good news is, the wine (bubbles or not) tastes amazing so we thought we’d get this wine into your hands as we’ve been drinking it for a bit now. The base wine of this cuvée is the same as Disco! but the wine spent over a year in barrel. As such, we get a lot of the same tropical notes in this wine, however there’s added complexity and finesse due to longer barrel-aging. Chill this like you would any other orange wine. This wine is an ode to our winery Poodle Lou; who just like this wine doesn’t do what we tell him to do.
Tastes like nectarine, pineapple soft serve, rum punch & orange blossom.
Party Monster is made from Rhodes Vineyard Merlot, Zinfandel, Carignan and Grenache in Redwood Valley. The vineyard (tended by Richard Rhodes and his son Christian) is a treasure trove of old vines with Grenache planted in the 40s, Carignane in the 60s, and interplanted “younger” Merlot and Zinfandel vines. Another ‘Pet Not’ which is actually quite common in natural wine. Party Monster is being the same sort of diva as Pet Nap and did not finish fermentation in the bottle. Party Monster is one of our most popular wines and despite the wine having little to no carbonation this year, it tastes amazing. The wine expresses all of what these sunkissed old vines have to offer: complexity, density of fruit and many layers. After impatiently waiting to release it, it’s this wine’s time to shine.
Tastes like sun ripened strawberries, Hawaiian fruit punch & tangerine cuties.
This was our first vintage making Bang Bang from the old vine fruit at Kazmet Vineyard in Redwood Valley. We’ve been thrilled to work extensively with Neil Mettler & Leila Kazimini, the proprietors of this stunning property that is planted to Chardonnay, Zinfandel and Syrah (we work with all three varieties from their site). The Chardonnay was planted in the 60s and is dry farmed and head trained (think bush vines). The vines look like trees as you walk through the vineyard. Like previous vintages of Bang Bang, this wine has lazer sharp acidity, stoney minerality and citrus for days. This wine isn’t aged in new oak barrels (neutral barrels only) so you won’t get any of those buttery notes, but you will get the texture you expect from this variety.
Tastes like finger lime, sea air, granny smith apples, smarties and tart plumquats.
All Hours is our new label focused on alternative packaging. Currently it’s canned in a single serving size with the same wine you know and love from our cellar. Unlike our single-vineyard wines, the All Hours collection serves as a canvas for integrating the flavors and aromas of grapes from various vineyard sites.
This wine is a little something from all of our vineyards up and down Northern California. A true snapshot of what our region of California has to offer. The full breakdown is 27% Gamino Vineyard Merlot, 15% Rawles Vineyard Zinfandel, 15% Parenti Vineyard Carignan, 8% Rhodes Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Hillside Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc, 8% Rodnick Vineyard Grenache, 7% Open Hand Ranch Pinotage/Merlot/Chardonnay Field Blend, 4% Cole Ranch Pinot Noir, 4% Deanda Vineyard Carignan, 4% Ciapusci Vineyard Zinfandel whew…
We work every day to come up with new and exciting additions to our line up and a multi-vineyard blend was a logical next step. We also keep an eye on our environmental responsibility as a company that espouses the virtues of holistic/organic/biodynamic/regenerative agriculture. Cans (in lieu of bottles) provide an easy way to reduce our carbon footprint. Bonus: you can take them anywhere. If you’re at home, pour into your favorite wine glass and enjoy as you would if it came out of a glass bottle. They’re also very nice if you just want a single serving without the commitment to opening a whole bottle.
Tastes like ripe red cherries, raspberries, hibiscus and clove. Serve with a light chill.
When we aren’t drinking wine after a long day, we’re filling up our glasses with vermouth from all over the world. We like vermouths and amari with a little more going on, topped with soda or tonic water and a big twist of citrus. We love the different flavors, colors and applications that it provides. We’ve had an aromatized wine on the R&D backburner for years, but a few months ago, we decided it was time to start experimenting. So Jonathan started foraging, Alex and Dominique started collecting spices and our good friend Drew Majoulet helped us bring it all together.
We’re thrilled with how this bottling turned out. Don’t get us wrong, we love wine, but sometimes you need a different kind of refreshment..
The base of this vermouth is our own Subject to Change wine with added organic herbs, spices and dried fruits. There is no sugar added (though there was residual sugar from the base wine which did not complete primary fermentation). There’s also no fortification (addition of grape spirit) and as always, no sulfur, fining, or filtration.
Here’s the breakdown:
Grapes: 62% Hillside Vineyard Zinfandel, 18% Rodnick Vineyard Grenache, 14% Muniz Vineyard Zinfandel/Merlot, 6% Ciapusci Zinfandel
Organic Botanicals: (Starwest Botanicals) Cinchona Bark, Gentian Root, Dried Orange Peel, Dried Lemon Peel, Cinnamon, Allspice, Madagascar Vanilla Bean, Dried Lavender, Pink Peppercorn, Dried Ginger Root, Clove, Star Anise
Drink this out of the can when you’re on the go and if you’re at home pour it over ice and garnish with a twist of lemon or orange. It has a little carbonation and a lot of flavor. Drink this before dinner for cocktail hour, after dinner as a refreshing digestif, at the movies right out of your purse or pocket (we won’t tell anyone), anywhere you want to enjoy a refreshing low alc beverage without having to bring a mobile bar.
Tastes like a composed cocktail with warm baking spices, burnt orange, tonic, basil.
If you’re already a Club Member, we’re excited to share these with you. If your account is on pause let us know if you’d like to receive this shipment.
Not a member? We still have space available for new folks. Here’s a link to some more information. We have 6 & 12 bottle options. Club packs will be shipping out the first week of October.
6 Bottle Club $202 with club discount $171.70 (Shipping not included and varies based on location)
12 Bottle Club (2 bottles of each offering above) $404 with club discount $343.40 + (Free Shipping!)
We hope you enjoy these wines as much as we enjoy making them. If you have any questions or comments send us an email, we’re always here for you.
The STC Crew Alex, Jonathan, Kelsey, Natalia & Dominique