2025 Rustiqué Wines, Riesling, Tondre Grapefield, Santa Lucia Highlands.
Again the latest set releases from Chad Silacci at Rustiqué Wines, located on the northwestern edge of the Santa Lucia Highlands, are all delicious, and this pale greenish/straw hued off-dry Tondre Grapefield Riesling is a favorite of mine. It, like the 2023, shows off crisp detailing, a generous lighter framed palate of lime blossom, zesty green apple, mixed citrus, pineapple, white cherry and tart peach fruits, along with loads of racy acidity. The Santa Lucia Highlands’ cool climate, loamy decomposed granite soils and breezy conditions allow the Riesling grapes to ripen perfectly and retain classic acidity and Rustiqué’s got it all captured in the bottle. Even with close to 16G per liter of residual sugar and expressive fruit, this wine sizzles with brisk tension from the fresh acidity and drinks much drier in style than you’d think and great as pairing for variety of dishes and cuisine choices. Nicely aromatic and mineral toned, this wine adds hunts of exotic spice, chamomile, verbena, almond paste and subtle wet stone. This was my first wine of the night recently at the Big Sur Food & Fine Festival and it was a brilliant start, and I mad sure to have some tasty crab croquettes with it, that matched up perfectly, and I would suggest having it with Sushi and or Thai food as well. It was great to catch up with Chad, at the BSFW and at Odonata Winery recently where I went through a couple more of his latest wines.
The Silacci family’s vineyards, first planted vines in 1999 became an instant hit with their Pinot Noir grapes, which went into some very successful and highly rated wines from some top producers, like Miura, but now have their own label Rustiqué Wines, which was originally founded in 2006, but only got going in more recent times. The winery and tasting room are at the western edge of the Santa Lucia Highlands and they are now crafting some excellent wines on their own. Chad Silacci, who’s one of the new exciting young winemakers in the Monterey region, mentored under the gifted hands of Denis Hoey at Odonata, is showing lots of potential and I really enjoyed the three vintages of Riesling he’s made, especially the 2023, which is bone dry, and this more Kabinett level style 2025, plus their Gularte Chardonnay, Tondré Syrah and the Pinot Noir offerings, in particular the 2024 KW Ranch. For the Riesling, Silacci has employed a gentle approach with a soft pressing of the Tondré Grapefield Riesling grape clusters and was careful to settle the juice as to not allow for green or bitter phenolics and has used a combination of stainless steel and neutral French oak with a short period of lees aging to achieve his goals of balance, transparency and dynamic freshness, while still having some nice generosity. If you’ve not discovered the Rustiqué lineup yet, I highly recommend doing so, either by visiting them on River Road or on their website.
($32 Est.) 92 Points, grapelive