Isa Wines
About
Talent, especially for young winemakers, is often a polite way of saying “unlimited resources,” so it’s important to note that’s not what we’re talking about here. Isabella might have a ton of grit and scrappiness, but materially, she’s a few vintages away from it all being easy. Instead, what she possesses is a combination of raw ability, training (via Martha Stoumen, Elisabetta Foradori, Domaine Mosse and Bedrock, among others) and really good instincts. As a terrifically small fish out there, Isabella has to compete hard for organic vineyard sources, and what she manages to cobble together is invariably limited but exquisite. As such, there’s never a lot of wine made and, frankly, for the most part it makes sense for her to sell as much as possible on the West Coast, but what does make it out here is always shockingly good - wines that taste of California sunshine, open and textured and flowing – think conversation pit style feng shui and religious-experience tomato salad and you’re close.
Last vintage she received a ton of praise for her sauvignon blancs, which sold out before we even really had a chance to explain why they were so good or even show more than a few bottles. Be warned, we got a little bit more this vintage, but not nearly enough, so please speak asap. All the attention on her whites left us unprepared for her absolute monster of a red this vintage, which stopped the office in our tracks and which, absolutely, is on our short list of best merlots of the last 5 years. If she were ten years older and had more cowboy hats, we’d call her current release a love letters to New California, but as it stands, we’re more inclined to just say that Isa wines is channeling the next big wave of west coast natural wine and we’re just glad we got in on the ground floor.
Products
Skin Contact Sauvignon Blanc 'You're a Dream' Santa Cruz Mountains
Organic. 100% Sauvignon Blanc. Sourced from the Ascona vineyard at 2400 ft above sea level in the Santa Cruz Mountains; the vineyard’s soils are vaqueros sandstone with some clay. Whole-cluster foot-tread, left on skins for roughly 3.5 days. Pressed and fermented in stainless steel tank; then the wine finished its malolactic fermentation in neutral barrels. Bottled spring ’23, only 55 cases produced. Pithy, with a bit of structure from the skin contact, and notes of pomelo and pink grapefruit. Elegant, mid-weight, lovely.
Sauvignon Blanc 'Claire Annelise' Mendocino County
Organic. Direct press Sauvignon Blanc from the beautiful Mee Vineyard in the Talmage Bench region of Mendocino. The grapes were harvested on September 15th, 2023 (we had a very late harvest across the board that year). The juice fermented with native yeast in stainless steel tank over a period of 2 weeks. It was then transferred into neutral barrel where malolactic fermentation occurred. 20ppm so2 added at bottling .The wine was bottled on April 30th, 2024.
Red Blend 'Don't Quit Your Day Job'
Organic. 90% Mataro, 10% blend of Grenache, Syrah, more Mataro. The lion’s share or 90% of the Mataro is sourced from the TKC vineyard in Amador County at 1080 ft above sea level. The soil at TKC vineyard is iron-rich red clay. The latter roughly 10% of the blend is a mix of Grenache, Syrah, and Mataro, sourced from the Côtes de Cailloux estate vineyard in the Sonoma Valley. Fermented whole-cluster in stainless steel, then pressed off the skins after a few days. The wine finished malolactic fermentation in neutral barrels. Bottled summer ’23, only 125 cases produced. Light, aromatic, juicy, with spicy and woodsy notes speaking to the dominant variety in this blend.
Merlot 'Don't Quit Your Day Job' Carmel Valley
Organic. 100% Merlot. In 2023 I got the rare opportunity to work with some of the most coveted fruit in California from the Massa Vineyard in Carmel Valley. Farmed by Ian Brand, the Merlot section of this vineyard has mixed marine sediments and siliceous shale soil. I first tasted Merlot from Massa when Jamiee Motley made it. It has this distinct beauty to it that’s hard to describe in words. The grapes were harvested on October 3rd, 2023. I decided to ferment the wine whole cluster because the stems looked fully ripe and I had a feeling it would lend to a compelling wine. I wanted to make a Merlot with structure and elegance. We destemmed and added a small part of the Alder Vineyard Merlot to the stainless steel tank and let it macerate for about a week and a half. We then pressed the fruit and let the juice finish fermenting in neutral barrel. 20ppm so2 added at bottling. The wine was bottled on April 30, 2024.
