2024 Lady of the Sunshine, Albariño, Bossi Vineyard, San Luis Obispo Coast.
One of California’s new cool climate terroirs and AVA, the SLO Coast, is home to some exciting projects, like Gina Louise Giugni’s Lady of the Sunshine label and her new Bossi Vineyard Albariño, which is a pale golden hued and aromatic dry white with expressive green apple, peach, guava, mango and lemony citrus fruits on the richer medium bodied palate and accented by subtle leesy notes, wet pebbles, almond paste, wild herbs and sea shore notes. There’s a fully mouth feel than would normally be the case with Albariño, but there’s plenty of cool climate acidity and salty quality helping tighten things up and providing life and balance here, and it was delicious with a range of food, especially some creamy farm sheep cheese. I would definitely recommend checking this Albariño out for those that love this Galician grape, it is a version that Giugni has made her own, much the same way Michael Havens did when he made California’s first Albariño back in 1999, after he brought back special cuttings from Rias Baixas. Albariño, being from a cool maritime region, thrives in the cold coastal areas of California now, but is still a rarity in the state, with Monterey’s Ian Brand and Russell Joyce leading the way in making the varietal a new world sensation. The Lady of the Sunshine’s estate Bossi Vineyard, all biodynamically farmed, 2024 Albariño saw a mix of ultra ripe and underripe berries, according to the winery, and was pressed a settled before a fermentation in neutral (French oak) barrels for both native primary and secondary (malo) fermentations. The wine was then aged on lees for a full 10 months, where it gained that richness and textural depth, and then was racked for the first time to blending tank.
These Lady of the Sunshine wines are creating a lot of buzz and excitement here in California, especially on the Central Coast, and are uniquely styled efforts.The California native Gina Louise Giugni (Hildebrand), as noted before, started her label Lady of the Sunshine in 2017 and has focused on organic farming and naturally styled elegant wines. This second generation biodynamic farmer and winemaker has captured the attention and the heart of her peers and makes a fine collection of offerings from the Santa Barbara County area of the central coast, including the Stolpman Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc, which I reviewed most recently before this one. Having grown up on her family’s eighty-six acre biodynamic-certified farm in the Sierra Foothills, says has said it was always the influence of her family that set her on her course to pursue biodynamic farming herself and she developed an early interest in making terroir-driven wines. So after getting her degree in Wine and Viticulture she was mentored for several years with different winemakers who focused on responsible farming including in France, New Zealand, Oregon, and Napa. With that experience in hand Gina , now part of a power couple with Mikey Giugni, of Scar of the Sea, she now calls the Central Coast of California her home, enjoying the cool maritime climats and the welcoming community of like minded winemakers. In 2024, Gina and Mikey were able to purchase the notable fully certified organic Bassi Vineyard, which is a 29-acre site in Avila Beach, on the chilly San Luis Obispo Coast that will form the core of a new series of estate wines, like this new Albariño. The limited wines of Lady f the Sunshine goes pretty quickly and I suggest getting on their mailing list, with their Sauvignon Blanc and Albariño being wines to explore first.
($42 Est.) 91 Points, grapelive