2023 Carhartt Venture Mission

Composition: 100% old-vine Mission

Nose (aromas): Santa Rosa plum, red ginger blossom, cedar

Flavor (palate): Juicy tart cherry, earthy minerality, white peppercorn

Winemaker's Notes: Mission is the last grape we pick every year, without fail! It ripens later than anything else out of Santa Maria Valley, and 2023 was a cool vintage, low and slow, which gave the fruit a long hang and time to develop. We got about three quarters of a ton off the block, which came to just over forty cases, our lowest production wine. After a delicate fermentation and a light press, it spent just six months in neutral oak, then bottled in April of 2024 unfined, unfiltered, and with nothing added or taken away. It has been resting in bottle ever since. Serve it at cellar temp or with a light chill, and drink it with grilled pork sausage, papas arrugadas with mojo verde, or a smoked goat cheese.

Aging Potential: Now to 2028+

Additional Info: Mission was the first wine grape planted in California, carried north by Spanish missionaries in the 1700s, and it ran the state's wine industry for close to a century before European varieties pushed it aside. Barberena is one of the few original plantings left standing, still home to descendants of the family who put the vines in the ground.

"We were handed the keys to this vineyard in 2020, and my dad and I have farmed it with our team every year since. The vines are close to a hundred years old, dry farmed, head trained, and probably some of the oldest in Santa Barbara County. 2023 was low and slow, a cool year that let this fruit hang and develop the way I always hope it will. We got three quarters of a ton. Just over forty cases, and that is the entire thing. It went in bottle in April of 2024 and I have left it alone since. The point has always been to show off the most pure form of the Mission grape that we can!"

- CHASE CARHARTT, CO-WINEMAKER