My white Wine of the Week is the MacRostie Nightwing Vineyard Chardonnay 2020. It’s the first vintage of Chardonnay that the highly regarded Sonoma Coast producer has released from this estate vineyard. According to winemaker Heidi Bridenhagen, writing on the MacRostie website, “While designing Nightwing, which features elevations ranging from 1,100 to 1,300 feet and numerous exposures and soil types, my friend and mentor, Steve MacRostie, and I personally selected all of the rootstocks, along with our favorite clones of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. We largely planted the Pinot Noir above the fog line and predominantly established our Chardonnay at lower elevations where it benefits most from the cooling influence of the fog. The end result is a majestic 74-acre vineyard, planted as a mosaic of 35 blocks featuring 44 acres of Pinot Noir and 30 acres of Chardonnay.”
If this first vintage is any indication—and knowing the producer’s other terrific wines, I am confident that it is—the wines grown on the Nightwing Vineyard will become standouts in the appellation. It’s a brilliant wine, channeling the cool-climate character of the site to result in a white with energy to spare, mouthwatering acidity and coiled tension that carry notes of nectarines and apricots, lemon verbena, fresh springtime blossoms, slightly saline minerality, a hint of yellow apples, and just enough oak spice to lend it layers without covering up its incredible place of origin. It’s a testament to the work that the MacRostie team did in developing this vineyard, and to the focus on quality and terroir expressivity that they’ve become so justifiably well known for.
My red Wine of the Week is the Hamel Family Wines Nuns Canyon Vineyard Red Wine 2018. It’s a blend of 74% Cabernet Sauvignon and 26% Cabernet Franc from the Moon Mountain District of Sonoma County. This is an appellation that gained official American Viticultural Area (AVA) status only a decade ago, yet the most famous tract of land within the appellation, the Monte Rosso Vineyard, has, since Louis Martini took over ownership of it in the late-1930s, famously produced very highly regarded reds. (Martini’s Monte Rosso Zinfandel is a personal favorite of mine.)
The appellation, according to the Moon Mountain District Winegrowers Association, boasts “over 130 years of continuous viticulture and viniculture from the earliest wine producers in Sonoma County, taking skilled advantage of the unique geological and climate conditions of elevated grape growing on the western slopes of the Mayacamas mountain range.” It’s “located on the Sonoma County side of the Mayacamas Mountains, [and] the AVA descends from the tallest ridge peaks at an elevation of 2,200 feet, down the mountain slopes to an elevation of roughly 400 feet. The District’s western boundary rises above the towns of Kenwood and Glen Ellen and continues southeastward just above the city of Sonoma and reaches toward Carneros.”
This particular wine, from a producer that has been growing in regard since its founding in 2006, is a delicious example of what the appellation is capable of doing so well. It balances ripe purple plums, blackberries, and crushed blueberries with sweet woodsy spices and a framing of beautifully structured tannins that are sweet enough to make the wine enjoyable right now, yet assertive enough to promise another ten to fifteen years of evolution. Star anise, scrubby herbs, black cherries, and blood oranges are anchored by a core of minerality and something almost sanguine, and the finish, with its cacao nibs and carob notes, lingers with impressive savoriness. This is a wine for the cellar that will reward earlier drinking, too—just make sure to decant it beforehand.
Finally, I spiritedly recommend the WhistlePig SummerStock Whiskey x Pit Viper Limited Edition, which is easily this season’s best package of whiskey, since it comes with a pair of sunglasses from Pit Viper that, after having a few drams of the liquid, made me feel a little bit like Randy “Macho Man” Savage, the famous wrestler whose wraparound shades were something of a signature.
And that’s the point of the collaboration: To highlight the fun of a spirit beautifully suited to casual sipping in the summer. (To be honest, however, it will be perfectly enjoyable year-round, too.)
As for the liquid itself, it’s a dangerously easy to enjoy wheat and rye whiskey that’s been what WhistlePig calls “solara” aged. This, of course, is a play on solera aging, which is the fractional blending of older liquids with younger ones. (It’s common practice with Sherry, for example.) And some of the barrels were even allowed to toast in the sun. All of these solar themes are to celebrate the fact that, recently, the WhistlePig Farm and Distillery in Vermont became entirely solar-powered. On top of that, some of the proceeds from each bottle-and-shades package will be donated to the charity Everybody Solar, which helps nonprofits transition to solar power.
Yet as always, even the best stories and intentions mean little if the liquid in the bottle isn’t solid. Fortunately, SummerStock is a worthy addition to any collection. It’s a caramel- and peanut-brittle-rich sipper whose flavors of golden raisins, butterscotch, and pralines are terrific neat or on the rocks, form an excellent base for a sweeter Old Fashioned, work well as a hydrating High Ball, and sing in a Whiskey Sour.
And if you enjoy any of those in the pair of accompanying Pit Viper sunglasses? Well, it’s just that much cooler.