2023 Desire Lines Wine Co, Evangelho Vineyard, Red Wine, Contra Costa County.
The latest and absolutely delicious, deep fruited and purple/ruby hued Desire Lines Evangelho Red Wine was made from a blend of roughly 90% Carignan and 10% Mourvèdre, that like in prior vintages, was fermented, with some carbonic maceration, with close to 30% whole cluster under a submerged cap and aged for ten months in neutral 400L barrels. Winemaker Cody Rasmussen loves the 400L barrel size for his fabulous Carignan based wine, saying it retains freshness and builds tension like all large format barrels, but with a less reductive tendency than the 500L and 600L barrels that he prefers for the Syrah and Mourvèdre grapes. As I’ve noted previously, Rasmussen intended this wine to be his own unique version of a California wine that would remind people of a Cru Beaujolais, like those of Fleurie or Morgon, but I look towards Corbieres for the old world similarity, this rustic area in the Languedoc where Carignan is a major player in the red blends, especially in the wines of Maxime Magnon, and in particular his gorgeous and natural Corbières Rouge “Campagnès” that comes from 100 year old Carignan vines, as does this one at Contra Costa’s iconic and historic Evangelho. This 2023 again brings beautiful floral aromas and snappy herbs, spice and seductive dark, ripe, and concentrated fruit, which have a core of black raspberry, juicy plum, pomegranate and morello cherry, along with a touch of pepper, baked earth, a cedary wood note and sprigs of anise, sage and lavender. Still, this wine rises above most recent vintages with an inner energy from cool year and has an extra dimension of pleasure and complexity, this is outstanding stuff! I was pleased to meet up with co-owner and partner Emily Rasmussen recently and taste through the new Desire Lines wines, all of which exceeded my expectations, and while I gravitate towards their Riesling, Syrah and this Evangelho, I will also mention that the 2023 Kick Ranch Sauvignon Blanc and the 2022 Massa Cabernet Sauvignon, from old vines at my local Carmel Valley estate, are fabulous too.
Cody Rasmussen, who along with his wife Emily started Desire Lines Wine Co in 2016, has made this label one of the best new wineries in California, with some stellar releases, especially his Syrah and Riesling bottlings, which I really love and have reviewed often here. Rasmussen has an amazing touch with these wines and California wine enthusiasts really should get on his list, and check out his new releases. As mentioned, Cody has great experience already under his belt, having been the assistant winemaker at Bedrock Wine Co and being mentored by Morgan Twain-Peterson MW, who is one of America’s great winegrowers and a Master of Wine. The vines at Evangelho Vineyard, now owned by Morgan Twain-Peterson, one of California’s great wine minds, and Chris Cottrell of Bedrock Wine Co., – now over 120 years old – were planted by Manuel Viera in the 1890s on land purchased from John Marsh’s Los Meganos Rancho, though farmed by Frank Evangehlo and family for most of its history. Evangelho Vineyard is located in Antioch, as noted by Rasmussen, just a mile upstream from the confluence of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers and only a few hundred yards south of the water’s edge. These old vines, Cody explains, are planted on what could be considered coastal dunes comprised of weathered granitic sand blown and washed out of the Sierra Nevada over millennia. This is one of the most unique terroirs in California with its ultra depleted, well draining heavy Oakley sand, this soil type is termed Delhi sand and it has protected and comfortingly wrapped these wines to perfection, making for some spectacular wines, like this old vine Carignan based red, under Cody’s own label, and the Zinfandel based Heritage Red from his boss at Bedrock. This wine gets better and better in the glass, has loads of pleasing character and textural quality without feeling cloying or heavy at all, making it easy to love with simple cuisine, with subtle savory and crunchy elements from the whole bunches and partial stem inclusion, it is an exciting wine and an outrageous value to drink over the next 3 to 5 years.
($35 Est.) 94 Points, grapelive