Since 2013 our mission has been to help our followers find great wines of great value that are ready to drink tonight.
“You’re a wine expert. What’s your favorite wine?”
If you talk to any of our 13 judges they will tell you that is the most common question they get asked about wine. It is also the most difficult question to answer. There are too many variables involved and we taste too much wine to pick one. A better question would be:
“What is an interesting or surprising wine you have tasted recently?”
We’re glad you asked! It is the 2023 Stonestreet Estate Vineyards White Blend Alexander Valley, our December wine of the month.
Founded in 1995 by Jess Stonestreet Jackson and Barbara Banke, Stonestreet encompasses 170 certified-sustainable micro-vineyards across their 5,300-acre mountain estate overlooking the Alexander Valley. In describing their locale, second-generation proprietor Chris Jackson says: “It gets extreme up here. You have 30-to-45 degree slopes and up to 2,400 feet of elevation. Some of the vineyard blocks are just totally impractical to farm, which is why I love them.”
On a recent visit to Stonestreet, our host Drea regaled us with tales of Jackson family history, Stonestreet’s impressive long-term planning, and the terrain that makes up their mountain estate. While describing how the family leaves more than 85% of the mountain estate unplanted so native flora and fauna can thrive, Drea poured us their 2023 Alexander Valley White Blend. This wine is led by Assyrtiko (74%), which is the most famous white wine on Santorini. We were a bit stunned to find it grown in Alexander Valley! In fact, Stonestreet may be one of only two families in California (along with the Perlegos family of Lodi) growing Assyrtiko.
The 2023 Stonestreet White Blend is characterized by Assyrtiko’s trademark salinity and acidity. Taste enough Assyrtiko and you will instantly recognize it. For most of you this will be a new wine-tasting sensation that will make a lasting impression. Winemaker Kristina Sideler adds Semillon to the blend for roundness and depth, while Malvasia Bianca pumps up the aromatics. Expect honeysuckle, white blossom, citrus, peach, honey, and almond. But the star is the salinity! It was a revelation; you just don’t get this in California.
In returning to the Jackson-family’s philosophy of long-term planning, we find it notable that the 2023 White Blend is 74% Assyrtiko; 1% more and they would be able to varietally label this wine. But how much would they sell? How many people who visit them will have ever heard of the grape? Instead, they have produced a familiar “White Blend” that will certainly elicit an instinctive response of discovery and wonder. What a great way to introduce a “new” grape.
For making an eye-opening white that doesn’t just add to the wine conversation but starts a whole new one, the 2023 Stonestreet White Blend Alexander Valley is our December wine of the month.
Learn more about Stonestreet Estate Vineyards, purchase their wine, and follow them here:
https://www.stonestreetwines.com
@StonestreetWinery
