2023 Desire Lines Wine Co, Dry Riesling, Cole Ranch Vineyard & AVA, Mendocino County.
Cody Rasmussen’s set of Rieslings are maybe the finest set of American versions you can find and his 2023 Desire Lines Massa Estate and Cole Ranch bottlings are the best yet and electric, especially this cool toned, steely and vibrant Cole Ranch old vine Dry Riesling with its racy acidity and mineral intensity making an instant rival to the best from Alsace, Austria and Germany. Like the outstanding 2018 and 2021 vintages, this greenish/gold 2023 Cole Ranch Riesling, from a cooler year, really has a laser like focus and precision on the crisp and tension filled lighter framed palate with zesty lime, unripe apricot, green apple, quince and muskmelon fruits, along with hints of peach pit, almond, chamomile, orange blossom, wet stone and lemon oil. This wine, as always, transmits the combination of rocky soils, that includes some limestone, gravel and loam that are here at the Cole Ranch, with its mature vines, with a stunning pristine clarity. I was grateful for the chance to taste the current and new releases of the Desire Lines collection with Cody’s wife Emily Rasmussen recently, who showed off these hand crafted and small lot bottlings, with the brilliant Rieslings again grabbing my attention. To make his Rieslings, Cody Rasmussen, also as noted before, uses traditional old world methods, with grapes seeing a whole cluster pressing with cold settling in tank, which bleeds out, or drops out the green phenolics, that, as Cody explains, is followed by fermentation in neutral barrels, where the wines are left on fine lees until bottling in the following summer, or about 9 months in total, which allows for a charming roundness, while focusing on absolute purity. I can’t seem to say it enough, this is a winery that should be on your radar and I suggest getting on their mailing as soon as possible.
One of the most iconic single vineyard alternative white wines in California, the Cole Ranch Dry Riesling by Cody Rasmussen at Desire Lines Wine Co, as I’ve said before, is an exceptional bottle of varietal wine with an amazing contrast between acidity and fruit concentration. The Cole Ranch Vineyard, located in a remote area of Mendocino County, is in a narrow valley, as Rasmussen notes, in the mountains between Boonville and Ukiah, it is a rare monopole site being both a single-vineyard and an AVA. The incredible mature Riesling vines here, as Cody adds, were planted back in 1973 and are on St. George (American) rootstock, all old school head-trained and dry-farmed, which makes them some of the most interesting and historic Riesling vines in California. Cody and Emily Rasmussen started their own micro-winery and label, Desire Lines Wine Co. with a small batch of Syrah in 2014 and now has a wonderful collection of wines from which to chose, including his set of Rieslings, which, like a broken record, I can’t recommend high enough for Riesling lovers, and the brilliant Carignane based Evangehlo Red Wine, which is from vines well over 100 years old. Rasmussen, who works for Morgan Twain-Peterson MW at Bedrock Wine Co, is doing some mighty work here with his Desire Lines label, and I will be reviewing a bunch more soon, with his Massa “Kabi” slightly off dry Riesling being another classic effort that has a nice generosity and goes great with spicy cuisine, making it a wine that proves you don’t need to fear residual sugar! While Rasmussen does fabulous Zinfandel with his day job at Bedrock, his Carignan and Mourvedre blend, mentioned above, comes from the deep sandy soils in Contra Costa and the famed Evangehlo Vineyard, which dates back to the late 1800s and an incredible historic site, is a sleeper in the lineup and a must have along with the Rieslings here.
($26 Est.) 95 Points, grapelive