Harrington Fratelli Vineyard Charbono 2013
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Harrington Wines is a small producer hell bent on bringing to light the obscure, forgotten grapes of California as well as producing clean, stable wines made without sulfites.
The winery was started in 2002 to produce California Pinot Noir. Over the years, a great deal of energy has been spent researching, locating and working with some of California's long-forgotten Pinot Noir vineyards. Ultimately, the vineyard sites chosen are challenging viticulturally, either because of age, climate or terrain. Of these three criteria, older vineyards have become most valued as they have adapted to and been changed by their environs and produce subtle wines more deeply imbued with Pinot's characteristic flavors and aromatics.
Over the past decade, this search for older Pinot Noir vineyards has brought a keen awareness of the forgotten viticultural treasures of California. There are vineyards full of history and potential scattered throughout California and wonderful wines can be made from the rare grape varieties coming from locations other than Napa and Sonoma. So in 2008, the Pinot-only regimen was stretched to include a Nebbiolo from two vineyards located on the limestone ridges of westside Paso Robles.
Bonarda is a name given to a handful of distinct grape varieties, mainly growing in Italy and in Argentina. In Lombardy’s Oltrepò Pavese and Emilia Romagna’s Colli Piacentini zones, the grape called Bonarda is actually Croatina. In Novara, Bonarda Novarese, often blended with Spanna (Nebbiolo), is actually Uva Rara. DNA profiling shows that most of the Bonarda in Argentina is actually identical to California’s Charbono—and Charbono is actually the Douce Noire grape from Savoie. Somm Secret—Bonarda Piemontese, an aromatic variety, is the only true Bonarda. Before phylloxera, it covered 30% of Piedmontese vineyard acreage.
Home to some of California’s most influential winemaking pioneers of the late 1800s, Paul Masson and Charles Lefranc, the Santa Clara Valley AVA hugs up against the southwestern border of today’s famous Silicon Valley and excels in the production of bold reds, as well as some whites.