“1900 Block” Carignan 2020

Carignan has long been known as an excellent blender in its native Rhone Valley in southern France. On the sandy floodplains of the Mokelumne River west of Lodi, these dry-farmed, own-rooted vines planted in 1900 by the Spenker family and still farmed by descendant Greg Burns of Jessie’s Grove. As with many old vineyards, the Carignan has a few scattered white grapes and other varietals interplanted. The rapidly disappearing but late 19th-century widely planted Monbadon white grape comprised 8% of the rows picked. Head-trained, spur pruned and own-rooted/dry-farmed.