Winc Field Theory Andrus Island Vineyard Albarino 2016
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At Winc, the mission is to create wine brands that speak to today’s drinker. As the largest digital-first wine company in the US, Winc leverages their customer data to curate a sought-after selection of brands, such as Summer Water, Folly of the Beast & Chop Shop. Once a wine becomes successful, they partner with wholesalers, retailers and restaurants to introduce it to a larger audience.
Winc takes pride in the fact that their approach to grape sourcing and winemaking is progressive and thoughtful. Since their inception, Winc has used their unique skill sets to create a wine team that is successful at small-lot winemaking. They then apply those small-lot winemaking techniques, skills and philosophies to winemaking on a larger scale. In the 2019 harvest alone, the house-made wines were from grapes representing 39 different varieties, 11 regions, and 54 vineyards in California alone. Not to mention sparkling wine, wine in a can, and cider.
Diversity is something done well at Winc.
Bright and aromatic with distinctive floral and fruity characteristics, Albariño has enjoyed a surge in popularity and an increase in plantings over the last couple of decades. Thick skins allow it to withstand the humid conditions of its homeland, Rías Baixas, Spain, free of malady, and produce a weighty but fresh white. Somm Secret—Albariño claims dual citizenship in Spain and Portugal. Under the name Alvarinho, it thrives in Portugal’s northwestern Vinho Verde region, which predictably, borders part of Spain’s Rías Baixas.
Positioned between the San Francisco Bay and the Sierra Nevada mountain range, the Lodi appellation, while relatively far inland, is able to maintain a classic Mediterranean climate featuring warm, sunny days and cool evenings. This is because the appellation is uniquely situated at the end of the Sacramento River Delta, which brings chilly, afternoon “delta breezes” to the area during the growing season.
Lodi is a premier source of 100+ year old ancient Zinfandel vineyards—some dating back as far as 1888! With low yields of small berries, these heritage vines produce complex and bold wines, concentrated in rich and voluptuous, dark fruit.
But Lodi doesn’t just produce Zinfandel; in fact, the appellation produces high quality wines from over 100 different grape varieties. Among them are Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Chardonnay and Sauvignon blanc as well as some of California's more rare and unique grapes. Lodi is recognized as an ideal spot for growing Spanish varieties like Albarino and Tempranillo, Portugese varieties—namely Touriga Nacional—as well as many German, Italian and French varieties.
Soil types vary widely among Lodi’s seven sub-appellations (Cosumnes River, Alta Mesa, Deer Creek Hills, Borden Ranch, Jahant, Clements Hills and Mokelumne River). The eastern hills are clay-based and rocky and in the west, along the Mokelumne and Cosumnes Rivers, sandy and mineral-heavy soils support the majority of Lodi’s century-old own-rooted Zinfandel vineyards. Unique to Lodi are pink Rocklin-Jahant loam soils, mainly found in the Jahant sub-appellation.