Dewey’s 2020 White Wine
Sumu Kaw Vineyard
El Dorado County
New to the Dewey’s line-up, this blend of roussanne and viognier is our first outing with Sumu Kaw Vineyard, for us, a long-sought-after site located at 3,000 foot elevation in the Sierra Foothills.
We picked with co-fermentation in mind, the viognier nice and ripe, the roussanne bright and mineral. The grapes were destemmed, foot tread, and left to macerate for several hours. This wine is a true labor of love as I found myself alone in the cellar in the middle of the night after a long day’s work, at first stoked with the music blasting and a beer in hand, and hours later humbled and bewildered by the grapes’ thick skins. What resulted is a wine of such concentration and depth I can almost taste the tears. Organically farmed fruit, fermented in stainless steel, bottled young, unfined and unfiltered. A clear snapshot of a vineyard’s integrity. We bottled 60 cases in March of 2021.
Art by my brother, Riley Miller.
Dewey’s 2020 Steel Impulse
Sans Soufre
California
Steel Impulse, each year something new, always a fun blend, always light-hearted and enjoyable to drink. We don’t think too hard about it and instead go on instinct. Or is it impulse?
The 2020 is made up of 75% rosé of carignan from Mendocino’s Poor Ranch, colored up with a touch of syrah from Sumu Kaw Vineyard, located in the Sierra Foothills. Both vineyards are farmed organically. The carignan was destemmed, foot tread, pressed, and then left to ferment in neutral oak. The syrah portion was fermented 50% whole-cluster. Each lot spent a few months in barrel before being blended up in tank. We bottled 60 cases, unfined and unfiltered, in March of 2021.
Art by my brother, Riley Miller.
Dewey’s 2020 Syrah
Sumu Kaw Vineyard
El Dorado County
After a few years hounding Sheila and Dave Bush, owners of Sumu Kaw Vineyard, we were able to snag a little syrah from this high elevation, organically farmed site nestled in the sugar pines of the Sierra Foothills.
We destemmed half the fruit and left the rest in tact. After a foot treading we threw everything into the fermenter and waited for things to kick off. Two light punchdowns a day and just 12 days on the skins, we pressed on the early side, sending the still-fermenting wine to neutral oak.
We bottled 50 cases in August of 2021, unfined and unfiltered.
Dewey’s 2019 Merlot
Alder Springs Vineyard
Mendocino County
Since 2017 we’ve been lucky enough to work with grapes from Stuart Bewley’s Alder Springs Vineyard. In 2017 and 2018 we made a blend of cab franc and merlot, the deep and primal if not sometimes unruly, kick rocks. In 2019 we focused our energies solely on the merlot.
Following a midnight pick, the grapes arrived to the winery still ice cold and covered in dew. Fermentation kicked off spontaneously after a few days’ cold soak, 50% whole-cluster. Gently punched down twice a day, fermentation cruised along without a hiccup. A couple weeks on skins and we pressed to two neutral oak barrels. In October of 2020 we bottled just 50 cases, unfined, unfiltered.
Dewey’s 2019 Vermentino
Barsotti Vineyard
El Dorado County
Our vermentino comes from father and son, Ron and Chuck Mansfield, and the stellar team at Goldbud Farms. Grown on pink granite high above the American River at 2,600’ elevation, the fruit always comes in cold and buxom.
In 2019 we went direct-to-press, pressed to tank for a night of settling and racked clean to neutral oak the following morning. Fermentation kicked off spontaneously. The wine completed malolactic fermentation and saw no additives other than sulfur. After twelve months in barrel we bottled 190 cases, unfined and unfiltered.
Dewey’s 2019 Carignan
Poor Ranch
Mendocino County
Settled in 1888 by John Samuel Poor, and six generations later farmed by Johnny and Susan Poor, the Poor Ranch is an incredible vineyard close to our hearts. Before there was Dewey’s Wines there was Dewey’s BOOTLEG. In 2015 and 2016 we made a little carignan from the Poor Ranch. Those wines have aged beautifully and in 2019 we got back with the program. Organically dry farmed since day one, the Poor Ranch turns out impeccable old vine carignan.
Picked at sunup, we brought the fruit in nice and cold. It went to an open top fermenter 75% percent whole-cluster, fermented native, and was punched down twice a day. The wine aged in neutral oak for 18 months and was sulfured just prior to bottling.
We bottled 100 cases in March 2021, unfined and unfiltered.
Dewey’s 2018 kick rocks
Alder Springs Vineyard
Mendocino County
In the far north of Mendocino County, Alder Springs is an epic site, the brainchild of owner Stuart Bewley. Just 12 miles from the Pacific and overlooking the Eel River, our grapes come from steep slopes at 2400’.
The 2018 kick rocks is a blend of 56% merlot and 44% cab franc. The merlot portion was destemmed while the cab franc went 100% whole-cluster. The ferments were native, the caps turned two to three times a day with a combination of punch downs and pumpovers. Each lot spent close to three weeks on skins and fifteen months in neutral oak. With the exception of sulfur, kick rocks saw no additives.
In December of 2019 we bottled 100 cases, unfined and unfiltered.