Croix Estate

THIS OLD GUITAR | Finding A Path To Appreciation

It’s 1978. There’s a stage, a cotton gin barn in the background surrounded by three hundred acres of cotton fields. The mood is festive with blankets spread out over a grassy patch next to the old farmhouse. The line for the slip n slide is 20 deep, the pool is full of laughter and high spirit banter, and a whole lot of hand-rolled “cigarettes” are being passed around. A covey of about 25 chickens, 4 ducks, and two baby goats strolled and intermingled throughout the crowd, while my Springer Spaniel, Dickens, followed them everywhere like a mother protecting her own adopted family. My goodness I loved that dog. I had just finished butchering and cleaning a handful of quail from our morning hunt, while my mother and her friends wrapped them into foil stuffed with onions, a pound of butter, and a whole lot of spices I could not describe to this day. Once prepared they were placed into the pit with 100 pounds of pork shoulder to slow cook in the ground for 12 hours on hot mesquite embers.

It was a smokey and loud environment with non-stop live music. The bluegrass band called an encore and stepped off the stage. And on the stage stepped a brunette. From what memory serves me she’s as tall as my mom, 5’1” or so, and she’s absolutely magnetic - beaming with electricity. She asked her band to step off the stage and invited everyone into the cotton gin barn. A magnificent, metal structure with 90-foot-high ceilings, corrugated steel walls, and skylights that lit the place with a light that shown a haze of dust from the steps of everyone entering the space. I have to paraphrase here, but what she said essentially was, “Two of the most talented men in song writing and composition wrote this song in 1975 and I would love to share that song with you all here tonight.”

There was no band, no microphone, no electrified music. Just her voice penetrating the room with such force that to this day I can feel the goose bumps cover my body, like a ghost passing through me. Her voice carried into the caverns of the cotton gin barn and echoed, like a chorus of angels filling the sky with light. If ever there were evidence of brilliance in the human condition, this person possessed it in such a simple, powerful level of harmony I have only experienced a handful of times in my life. I’m told that my memory of that day, and the song she sang was that of something titled, “After The Thrill Is Gone”. I was also told it was sung by a person who would become one of the most prolific Mexican/American performers of our time. A legend.

You see, for as long as I can remember, I’ve been surrounded by music performed by gifted human beings who bore the gift of allowing a force to flow through them that lit up a crowd. Call it nostalgia for more pure times, but there was a simple credence in having every weekend be a musical display on my uncle’s land back then. It was my dad who brought music into my life. I remember him singing music to me at a very young age while playing an old, black Gibson, which I own to this day. There’s nothing more magical than the sound of an old guitar. When my dad left me, far too young and far too early, he left me with four guitars. Instruments that I haven’t had the courage to open in a very, very long time. However, a few weeks ago, I finally opened the box, picked up this old guitar and I thought, man…this sure is a lot like making wine now isn’t it? What it reminds me of is the fact that when I pick up this old guitar, strum it a bit, the halls of that old cotton gin barn start to hum and fill. And, memories of some of the best days of my life begin to build and I remember why I got into this wine business in the first place.

Wine is a lot like music from an artistic perspective. Like writing a song, making wine starts with a starting point of the unknown. We grow and harvest the fruit and our best guess is perhaps there’s a hook in the lyric that will hit with our audience. We write, rewrite the stanza, the chorus, and put it into performance. In the case of wine, we make, protect, barrel age and begin to blend. And we work the “song” of that vineyard from which it was born. And that is the sexy part of winemaking. Because, in the grind of building the perfect alignment of voice within a wine, one finds a higher purpose to existence. We create, therefore we are. Art in its most simplistic terms is something that moves the soul to a higher plane of appreciation for the short time we will spend on this rock floating in the middle of the multiverse. Craft also has the same effect when we accomplish perfection in our winemaking. So let me get to the point

My friends, my eyes melt when I review the 2023 vintage and all of the wines we have created. Why? Because we have now been at this for thirteen years and our eleventh vintage is perhaps as close to perfection as we have ever come in producing Croix Estate wines. I would not be saying this unless the wines we have produced are now moving me – emotionally and spiritually - just as that voice once moved me all those years ago. When I say you do not want to take a pass on anything we’ve made from the 2023 vintage, I am saying this with absolute conviction that beauty floats in the glass with this vintage and it fills you up where maybe, just maybe, that small ounce of joy it brings into your life is enough to bring you fulfillment and appreciation for those around you who matter most, and for the things you do that bring you true fulfillment.

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2023 Richard Dinner Chardonnay | Richard Dinner Vineyard, Sonoma Mountain

One of things we love about the 2023 vintage of Chardonnays is the razor balance that every wine has within them. They are distinct. Bright, rich and beautiful. We recently had friends over to the winery to preview the 2023 vintage of Chardonnays. One person who is absolutely a non-Chardonnay drinker walked away from that tasting saying, “I love Croix Chardonnay.” Listen, there is grace in our 2023 vintage not experienced in all of our years of making Chardonnay. We always like to say that Chardonnay, even in its “noble status”, is a winemaker’s variety because without the influence of the winemaker, its quite a simple tasting grape. As such, what we do with Chardonnay and how we make it pleasing and delicious is entirely up to us, with complete deference to what Mother Nature provides as a starting point.

Sitting at a peak elevation of 2,000+ feet, facing west to the pacific ocean, directionally speaking, this vineyard lies at the target point of a roundhouse kick to the face in a lesson in location, location, location. Those familiar with the Petaluma Gap AVA know that late afternoon breezes can quickly turn to brisk fog-outs that blanket vast swaths of square mileage. Sonoma Mountain lies in this direct path. Few Sonoma County wine regions are so singularly defined by elevation, exposure, and geographical features as the Sonoma Mountain American Viticulture Area (AVA). Combine soil and micro-climate diurnal temperature variation, organic viticultural practices, a deft hand at coaxing the finer nuances in naturally produced Chardonnay, and you have the recipe for producing perfection in the glass. This is a must-have wine in your cellar.

$75 | 8 Barrels Produced

2023 12 Rows Chardonnay | Ritchie Vineyard, Middle Reach, Russian River Valley

As we have written in prior wine notes regarding this wine, our 2023 12 Rows Chardonnay emotes distinct memories growing up among groves of white peach trees, letting you know with one sniff that pure deliciousness is at hand. This wine opens with zesty Meyer lemon rind, crème brûlée, and caramelized brown sugar causing the mouth to water with anticipation. There’s more racy delicacy laced with a dash of balanced, creamy richness in the 2023 that showcases a precise hand in the making of this wine. It’s a mouthful of ripe, white peaches, pink grapefruit, citrus curd and crisp, honey-baked apples. This is incredibly delicious! Our 12 Rows Chardonnay is our most popular Chardonnay and will sell out, so be sure to secure your allotment accordingly.

Considered among the greatest Chardonnay vineyards in the new world, Kent Ritchie is a regular, down-to-earth farmer enraptured by a vocation that compels him to work his land as he sees fit. As we have said before, humility in the face of such admiration is so very refreshing and reminds us that our daily bread is earned, one vintage at a time. We are blessed to be a part of Kent Ritchie’s greatness.

$75 | 8 Barrels Produced

 

2023 Starlings’ Roost Chardonnay | Dutton-Morelli Lane Vineyard, Green Valley, Russian River Valley

We sure love the purity of the 2023 vintage of this wine, as it restrains the honey and citrus character just enough to allow for a more polished effort. Scents of lightly toasted pine nuts, tart Meyer lemon curd broaden in the glass with fresh tea leaves that brings us back to our love for this site. Crisp Gravenstein apples and sweet citrus balance sweet and tart to perfection, leading to an expansive, lengthy finish of pineapple, cloves and a dash of toasty vanillin. Medium bodied and light on the viscosity, this wine is refreshing, vibrant, and worthy of decade in the cellar.

Our quest to produce Chardonnay that will age for a decade or longer began with the 2012 vintage of Starlings’ Roost Chardonnay. We were enraptured by this site’s history, location, and the deafening cacophony emanating from thousands of roosting Starlings. Positioned within the Occidental Cordillera, this is home to hallowed earth, revered by many a talented winemaker. Planted in the late 1890’s, it is a temperate vineyard location sitting above the fog line, subject to piercing, midday sunshine, deceiving its proximity to the Pacific Ocean. It is this terroir that makes this vineyard compelling and challenging with each vintage production.

$75 | 7 Barrels Produced

2022 Kings Ridge Pinot Noir | Cinghiale Vineyard, Fort Ross-Seaview, Sonoma Coast

This is perhaps on of our most substantial, complex Pinot Noirs within our portfolio of single-vineyard Pinot Noirs. This wine is a rare beauty that is bottle aged for 12 months prior to its release, and at just 5 barrels produced, you do not want to pass on the 2022 vintage of this wine. Black cherries, licorice, sweet tobacco leaf, blue herbs, cream soda, and cardamom pull you in. This wine is massive and full-bodied on the palate without being pushy or overweighted. Plum concentrate, black fruit compote, raspberries, and crushed espresso bean, with mouthwatering acidity and a perpetual finish. It achieves the perfect glide from start to finish. Pure perfection in the glass!

Most enthusiasts push-back on north coast Pinot Noir because it tends to skew acidic, light, and lacking the pleasantries we often find in a straight Russian River Valley Pinot Noir. It doesn’t have to be this way. We have increased hang-time in the growing cycle to increase core tannin and flavor development in the fruit. The results are stunning. If ever there were an “elite” vineyard classification system within the Russian River Valley and Sonoma Coast appellations, Cinghiale Vineyard would sit squarely within this classification. Purchased by Dave Del Dotto in 2005, the “Cinghiale” (Italian for wild boar) Vineyard is named for the frequent inhabitants of the property. Overlooking the Pacific Ocean, it consists of 359 acres at the top of Kings Ridge in the Fort Ross-Seaview appellation, and is planted with 43-acres of Pinot Noir. It features a broad diversity of Pinot Noir clones with lineages hailing from the top vineyards in Burgundy, as well as select top-rated clones from its neighbors in California. Our production combines Clone 828 and 777, 10% whole cluster into open top fermenters.

$105 | 5 Barrels Produced

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