Mission Codename Valley of Flowers
“Choose Life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a big ass kicking red wine.”
Choose to make Monday less Monday-ish with this big, BIG, bold, COLOSSAL fruit-bomb of a red. This blew us away at a recent tasting and we had to share it with you – for almost half off, naturally. WINESPOTTING. It’s just what we do, man.
Christopher Creek is somewhat new to us but the Foppoli family has a long history making wine and the winery dates back to the mid-1970s. The owners have been farming for three decades and making wine for almost two of those. This wine was named after Rancho Sotoyome, a fifty-thousand-acre land grant extending along the Russian River, Alexander Valley and the town of Healdsburg, dating back to the Wappo tribe of the 1700s, who had named this land of plenty after the abundant wildflowers that still thrive to date.
For this, they pulled off a wild kitchen sink blend of SIX varietals, all fermented separately and then blended together. They include Cabernet, Zinfandel, Syrah, Petite Sirah, Pinot Noir and Cab Franc all sourced from their select Dry Creek and Russian River Valley vineyards. This is a big, bold, inky, irresistible juice-packed blend, with deeply concentrated aromas of crushed raspberries, soft mixed berries, licorice, and flavors of boysenberry jam, sexy caramel, road tar and a ripe toasty finish. Rich and mouthcoating stuff, no doubt!
Anyone who loves rollocking, hyper-rich reds needs to experience this. Don’t let it slip away!
What the Winery Says
2016 'Sotoyome' Sonoma County Cabernet Blend
- Winemaker
- Mike Brunson
- Vintage
- 2016
- Varietals
- 28% Cabernet Sauvignon, 24% Zinfandel, 19% Syrah, 11% Petite Sirah, 10% Pinot Noir, 8% Cabernet Franc
- Appellations
- Dry Creek Valley and Russian River Valley, Sonoma County
- Alcohol
- 14.9%
- Brix at harvest
- 24.0 - 25.2
- pH
- 3.69
- Aging
- 12 months
- Barrels
- 35% new French oak
- Bottling date
- February 28, 2018
- Production
- 20 barrels