Birichino Riesling Wirz Vineyard Old Vine 2023

“Wirz lies 1000’ up in a slight swale astride the San Andreas Fault, just off the eastern flank of the Gabilans.  Pat Wirz enjoys a legendary status among winemakers in the area for his grape growing acumen, experience, fairness, colorful character and epic moustache.  While some of the blocks of red grapes on the property date to roughly 1900, Pat’s father planted these 45 acres of Riesling in 1964.  Dry-farmed, organic, head-trained Riesling is a rare bird, as is the soil, a combination of granitic sand and calcareous clay loam, courtesy of the volcanic and tectonic activity along the fault over the eons.  A sort of magic operates over the vineyards in the Gabilan Range.  Varieties which have no business succeeding in close proximity to one another thrive here  [Riesling, Mourvèdre and Carignane at Wirz; Chenin Blanc, Melon de Bourgogne and Mourvèdre at Rodnick Farm in Chalone;Pinot Noir and Mourvèdre at Enz].  To this we can attribute the rare combination of granite and calcareous soils, and the sometimes-extreme diurnal temperature variations which afford grapes the chance to retain the acidity they might otherwise lose in less geologically blessed climates. Despite frequent drought conditions, a small creek which bisects the vineyard provided enough humidity to induce the development of a small amount of botrytis.  The botrytis and miniscule yields have combined to infuse this wine with a lovely stone fruit perfume to sit in juxtaposition against the extreme rockiness we always find – and esteem – in Wirz Riesling.  This should evolve nicely for years.”   - WINERY NOTES