Post & Vine:
2019 Testa Vineyard Old Vine Field Blend
2021 Mule Plane Vineyard Carignane
The Post & Vine wines embody the rugged honesty and sense of place of Old California, for a price that baffles in New California.
Here’s a story we love:
A famous winemaker spends their days making >$100 Cabernet. They fall in love with an obscure varietal and/or historic vineyard and take it on as a passion project, and create incredible wines at a fraction of the cost of their Cabs.
That’s pretty much the story here. Rebekah Wineburg is the talented winemaker at Quintessa, but fell in love with Carignane and Old Vine Field Blends and makes them in tiny, treasured quantities through her side project Post & Vine. The wines represent some of the best quality to price ratios that we’ve found in California.
The Mule Plane Carignane is from own-rooted vines that are over 100 years old. Clocking in at a very reasonable 13.5% alcohol, I’d compare it to Barbera. It’s friendly and open knit with brambly fruit and tobacco, an enticing blend of fresh fruit and earth. This is a medium body wine, but with high intensity. It’s juicy and friendly, and I want to to drink it with everything that comes off a grill. Only 82 cases made.
To extend the analogy, if the Carignane is like Barbera, then the Old Vine Field Blend is like Nebbiolo. 60+ year old, head-trained Zinfandel, Carignane, and Petite Sirah vines are farmed organically and biodynamically. This is a complex, historical field blend with black cherry, cedar, rose, and minerality to spare. This is a serious wine that can go for years, but has the acid and tannins to be a wonderful accompaniment to a meal now.
Frankly, handmade wines with this level of farming, history, transparency, and sense of place should cost much, much more. It is our good fortune (for now) that the world has not yet realized that historic vineyards should entail higher price tags. Maybe we’ll get lucky and these sorts of bottles will stay under-the-radar forever, but with quality like this, from winemakers like Rebekah, I wouldn’t count on it. These are priced attractively, and I encourage you to order quickly.
Bonus: If you are nearby, Rebekah will be pouring these wines (plus some library treasures) at the shop this Thursday from 5-7:30pm.
To order, click the link below or just respond to this email with what you’d like.
Special 4 pack pricing (2 of each): $116