WINERY RouteStock is an invitation to discover the deep roots of winemaking in Napa and Sonoma, planted firmly at each step of your journey through our vineyard sites. Every glass tells the story of Napa and Sonoma’s remarkable fine wine heritage, from the famous routes that wind between the vineyards, to the roots that produce its world-renowned grapes. An endeavor of enduring Napabased importer Wilson Daniels, RouteStock is established as a product that consistently over-delivers in quality at a very attractive price point.

WINE Since we started producing this wine for the RouteStock portfolio, we have had two consistent vineyard sources: one in the Petaluma Gap AVA and one located 1.5 miles from the coast. With the 2021 vintage, we are delighted to begin including our new estate vineyard, located in the Sebastopol Hills region of Russian River Valley, into the blend. Our estate vineyard makes up approximately 40% of the final blend and the other two sources make up the balance.

2023 marks our eighth vintage of sauvignon blanc and our sourcing has remained the same for all eight vintages. We work closely with our two growers, one in Carneros and the other just east of Yountville. How sauvignon blanc is grown has a major impact on what flavors we get, so we spend time during the growing season ensuring we are exposing the clusters to the right amount of sum, too little sum and you get the green bell pepper flavors, too much gives you flavors of guava. Too much canopy drives grassy flavors we want to avoid.

After the brutal fires of 2020, the ongoing drought in 2021 that drastically reduced the crop, and the extreme heat event of 2022, the 2023 vintage seemed like a dream come true! A nicely wet winter set a good healthy crop for 2023 in all three of our Sonoma Coast pinot noir vineyards. The rain lasted longer than “normal” and combined with cooler than normal temperatures pushed budbreak and bloom back about one month from 2022. The growing season remained cool throughout the summer with temperatures mostly in the 70’s and 80’s. Harvest started 29 days later than in 2022 and we harvested all three vineyards in a busy eight-day stretch.

A triple fermentation was used to create a more complex wine. 15% was fermented and aged in stainless steel to retain fruit flavors. 15% was fermented and aged in concrete eggs to create texture and 70% was fermented and aged in neutral French oak for amplitude, length and texture. The wine remained on the gross lees for the duration of aging in all vessels.

The aroma explodes from the glass with fresh herbs (oregano, thyme), fig and grapefruit. The wine fills the mouth with a texture that at once coats the palate and is also quite bright. Flavors of honeydew melon, fresh oregano, nectarine, fig and white grapefruit make for a wine that is complex, fun and fresh all with long lingering finish.