Amador County Mission

From arguably the oldest vines in California, the Mission vines at Deaver Ranch were planted by John James Davis in 1854. While the Mission variety may be considered obscure by today’s standards, back in the day, it was the common variety being cultivated in California. It’s a versatile variety which served multiple purposes. Anymore, it’s rare to find a serious dry wine made with Mission. Thankfully, Tegan Passalacqua has been known to occasionally make such a wine from these historic plantings.

Popped and poured; enjoyed over the course of several hours. The 2019 pours a pale garnet color with a transparent core; medium viscosity with no staining of the tears. On the nose, the wine is developing with notes of confected cherry, watermelon Jolly Rancher®️, strawberry, rhubarb, semi-dried hay and soft minerals. On the palate, the wine is dry with medium tannin and medium acid. Confirming the notes from the nose. The finish is medium. There is something unexplainable about how remarkable this wine is. There’s humility to it A wine full of wisdom. I wish I had more to try down the road alas, I was only allocated a single bottle. However, I am so grateful for the one and to be able to share it with some old friends and some new friends. Drink now through 2034+.

Strawberry flavor, light style but tasty

A gift from the past becomes magic of the present, in the hands of @ownrooted. This is a pitch-perfect interpretation of Pais / Listan Prieto, the grape brought north from Mexico by Franciscan friars and planted so religiously (had to do it) at the outposts they established that it simply became known as the Mission grape. At its best, and make no mistake, this bottle is among that company, it offers bright strawberry and sour cherry fruit married to dried floral and herbal notes and shot through with electric minerality. Unbelievably refreshing and delicious. These bottle are crazy scarce, I think my annual allocation as a long time mailing list member is merely one (1), but if you can get your hands on one, it will be worth it.

Didn’t know what to expect. Nice vibrant red fruits and good acid. Crushable red. Fun to try.

Crunchy tannins, cranberry and dried fruit. Crushable with burgers,delicious piece of history.

Very light-bodied. Somewhat simple, but well-balanced and quaffable.

My first experience with a wine made from the Mission grape which was brought to California from Spain in the mid/late 19th century. The vineyard that Sandlands sources its fruit from is the Deaver Ranch where the vines were planted in 1854 and thought to be some of the oldest vines in California! It pours a very light ruby color, almost like a dark rosé really. On the nose, it’s not terribly expressive but there is a light touch of fig and some red fruits; raspberries and cherries. On the palate, this is a very juicy wine with raspberries, cherries and rhubarb. There didn’t seem to be a whole lot of structure with this bottle showing modest tannin and medium-low acid. Finish is clean and satisfying. One feels as though they are drinking history with a wine like this; certainly fun to try. Only two barrels were produced in 2018.

I liked this better than the 17. This wine resembles a jura red but its texturally unctuous and has an intriguing mix of red fruit and citrus peel. Admittedly my experience with California mission is limited but I thought this was quite good.

Tegan’s description of this seems right—cranberry and dried fig. Deceptively translucent, this has richness.

Blackberry liqueur and white flowers on the nose, but much lighter on the palate - crunchy red fruit, bright acidity, fine grippy tannin 🤩