2022 Lioco, Carignan, Sativa, Mendocino County.
The dark purple/garnet hued Mendocino Sativa Carignan, which Lioco gets from 70 year-old, dry farmed Carignan vines, with a tiny bit of Valdiguie, all organically farmed, is perfectly capturing the ripe and chewy nature of vintage with good fruit density, supple tannins, pretty aromatics and a nice spiciness. Pretty full bodied and thickly layered with blackberry, sweet plum, currant and Italian cherry fruits leading the way, along with sage, lavender, anise, violets and a touch of sandalwood, making for a very satisfying red wine that showcases the best features of this varietal. In recent years I’ve really enjoyed Ridge’s, Desire Lines and Sandlands Carignane or Carignan offerings, all of which prove this grape has a place and a future in California wine and Lioco is right up there. The Sativa, the winery says, is sourced from vines planted on south-facing exposures at 2200-2400 feet on a mix of hard shale and clay soil. Uniquely, this Carignan was fermented with 100% whole cluster and got some extra elevage to all come together, it is a very expressive and joyous wine that is best enjoyed with a hearty meal. Lioco is widely admired for their terroir driven California wines which are old world inspired, with this one paying tribute to our own winemaking traditions in the state.
One of my favorite wines in the Lioco lineup year after year, their Carignan, sourced from a few historic Mendocino County ranches, with some vineyards on the valley floor, though some sites were at high elevation, but all were what the winery calls “Heritage” dry-farmed and head-trained vines, set on a combination of soils ranging from red clay to hard rocky soils. All of which makes for a tasty and complex version of pure Carignan, a grape with deep California roots and unfairly always over shadowed by Zinfandel and Petite Sirah, and historical presence in Languedoc, as seen in some fabulous Corbieres wines, as well as being a minor player in Châteauneuf-du-Pape. This version is typically fermented, as the winery notes, in a mix of open-top tanks with (a) submerged cap during maceration and saw good extraction, as the mission here was to make a more serious version that the juicy and more quaffable version. After primary fermentation is complete, the top Carignan usually is matured for about 18 months in neutral oak puncheons, as to allow the wine to show off its natural character, and that was highly successful here with this edition that I highly recommend. Lioco, founded in 2005 by the husband and wife team of Matt & Sara Licklider, does some fabulous Chardonnay too, so don’t overlook anything here.
($44 Est.) 93 Points, grapelive