Folk Machine Suisun Valley Charbono 2023
We have 7 in stock (Inventory is live and accurate)
The Land
Suisun Valley sits one ridge east of Napa in western Solano County, and most people driving to Napa pass right by it without realizing it became an AVA in November 1982. The valley runs about 3 miles wide and 8 miles long. Its floor sits only 100 to 200 feet above sea level, with the Vaca Mountains on one side and hills topping 2,000 feet at Twin Sisters on the other. From May through October, breezes off San Pablo and Suisun Bays blow in almost without stopping, but fog rarely gets this far. Most vines grow in Sycamore silty loam on an alluvial fan. Charbono is a slow, late-ripening grape. Warm afternoons soften its thick skins, and the steady wind keeps its acidity intact.
The Wine
Charbono is California's name for Douce Noir, a grape from Savoie, and DNA work has shown it is the same variety Argentina grows as Bonarda. California has well under 100 acres of it, most of them in Napa. Folk Machine Suisun Valley Charbono 2023 comes from a two-acre block that was grafted over from Merlot. About 20% whole clusters went into an uninoculated fermentation, and the wine then spent 10 months in older barrels. It pours a near-opaque purple and smells as dark as it looks, with black cherry, plum, violets, and dried herbs. It drinks lighter than that, though: moderate tannin, juicy acidity, and a savory, fresh finish. The cool, drawn-out 2023 season gave this late-hanging grape all the time it needed. A light chill helps it.
The People
This wine exists because Kenny Likitprakong went looking for it. Hobo was already a committed Valdiguié producer when Kenny decided Charbono needed a champion too. He counts Charbono, Valdiguié, and Zinfandel as California's three heritage grapes, and he thinks the first two are endangered unless people actually drink them. In the spring of 2013 he called grower Brian Babcock, whose young Charbono block sat in Suisun Valley. Babcock himself is not quite sure why he planted it. Relationships like that one hold Hobo together. The company owns no vineyards and buys from growers Kenny has known for years, most of them for at least a decade. Charbono from Suisun Valley is a small bottling, made largely to keep a nearly forgotten grape in circulation.
Food Pairing
Dark fruit, savory herbs, and modest tannin call for food with some depth, but nothing that needs a big Cabernet. Grill lamb kofta and serve them with garlicky yogurt and sumac onions. The wine's acidity cuts through the fat, and the herbal edge picks up the spice. A mushroom pizza with fontina and fresh thyme brings out the dried-herb side of the wine. Slow-cooked pork carnitas tacos with charred tomatillo salsa work too, because the salsa's tang lines up with the wine's acidity. Pour it for the friend who thinks they have tried every California red.
We ship wine to most states with a $100 minimum order for shipping. We don't ship spirits nor beer.
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