Marilyn's Mourvedre

• Vintage: 2022
• Varietal: Mourvedre
• Appellation: Home Ranch Vineyard, Contra Costa County
• Alcohol: 13.7%

This is a single-vineyard red from Home Ranch, a sandy, well-draining site in Contra Costa County, and it knows how to make an impression. Candied red berry fruit is outspoken. Medium-bodied with silky tannins, it is all charged up with cinnamon-dusted cherries and plums.

Home Ranch Vineyard, Contra Costa County

The AVA border begins west of the towns of Martinez and Contra Costa, where vineyards are sandwiched between apartment buildings shopping malls, and rooted along the highways that follow the Sacramento-San Joaquin inland river delta. The AVA spans east, and its northern border follows the delta past Oakley and south to Byron. In the 1890s, a host of immigrants, mostly Italian, who had come for the 1849 Gold Rush, established vineyards in the sandy banks along the delta—producing mostly field blends. Incredibly, some are still producing grapes today.