NoneSuch, “Enz Vineyard” Mourvèdre Online now

NoneSuch, “Enz Vineyard” Mourvèdre

The first time winemaker Caitlin Quinn visited the Enz Vineyard in San Benito County, she sat right down among the 100-year-old vines, dug her fingers into the sparkling sand, and soaked it all in. The Enz Vineyard defies all preconceptions of Californian wine—own-rooted, head-trained, dry-farmed, and hidden deep in San Benito County, where it has flourished since the 1800s. The wines which hail from this special place are truly remarkable. To drink Enz is to understand the very fabric of California winemaking, and to be lucky enough to make a wine from Enz is to partake in history.

It was one of Caitlin’s lifelong dreams to work with such a genre-bending vineyard. While she adores her “day job” as the assistant winemaker for Sonoma’s Arnot-Roberts, one of California’s most celebrated and unconventional wineries, NoneSuch Wines is her personal passion project. She founded the label with the goal of honoring California’s expansive diversity of exceptional vineyards, beginning with Enz—an indisputable treasure. Her 2018 Mourvèdre drinks like no other: perfumed, floral, deeply aromatic, and abundantly mineral. This is a vivid and brightly fruited departure from the dark, gamey muscles of Bandol. Only five barrels were made, which is a tantalizingly minuscule allocation for one of California’s freshest talents. But then again, if there were more of it, it wouldn’t be Enz! This is the cutting edge of California, without the prohibitive “cult wine” price tag!

There is so much beauty in the story of today’s Mourvèdre that it’s hard to know where to begin. Caitlin founded NoneSuch Wines in 2017 after years of drawing inspiration and experience from all corners of the globe. Born in San Luis Obispo, she inherited a love of wine from her parents and their barrels of Napa fruit fermenting in the garage. After her first harvest at Sonoma’s Michel-Schlumberger, she bounced from the Santa Cruz Mountains to New Zealand, Chile, and finally back to California, where she worked at Unti for four years. In 2015, she accepted the position of assistant winemaker at Arnot-Roberts, where she makes glorious, critically-acclaimed wines to this day. Caitlin was first introduced to the Enz vineyard through a close friend (and old-vine whisperer) Ian Brand, of I. Brand & Family wines. That’s how she ended up sitting in the ancient vineyard, admiring the gnarled vines and daydreaming about the wine she’d longed to make for years. Ian offered a few tons of fruit to a handful of friends with the intent of examining Enz through the lens of different winemakers’ styles. The story of this vineyard needed to be told, and Caitlin was ready for the challenge. 

Enz is a vineyard like none other in California, or perhaps the world. At 1,100 feet elevation, the eight-acre block of Mourvèdre was planted in 1922 and has been dry-farmed and organically tended ever since. The vines grow in a complex mosaic of sandy granite, dolomite, and limestone. It’s a living piece of California’s history; you’d be hard-pressed to find head-trained, basket-pruned, own-rooted vines with 95 years of healthy harvests behind them anywhere else in the New World. Enz enjoys the distinction of being the only vineyard within the Lime Kiln Valley AVA, tucked along the Gabilan mountains and far, far from the influence of by-the-numbers winemaking. Caitlin decided to approach the concentrated grapes with delicate minimalism; she treads the hand-harvested fruit by foot, fermented the whole clusters with native yeasts, and aged in five neutral oak barrels. Caitlin’s light touch allows the soul of Enz to beam forth.

The 2018 is a compelling red-purple blessed with exuberant aromatics. There’s just a touch of Mourvèdre’s signature gamey-ness lingering in the background, but top notes of wild roses, apple mint, and muddled boysenberry take the lead after half an hour of decanting. Each sniff is filigreed with fresh, green notes of wet herbs and cool potting soil, but the juicy core notes are all Santa Rosa plums, cracked granite, and beef jerky. It’s satiny, vivid, and dangerously drinkable once I stopped marveling at every tiny detail. I’d recommend pairing with sizzling quesabirria tacos for a thoroughly Californian meal. Rinse and repeat many times over the next few years, since the 2018 has ample energy pulsing through its purple depths!