The WineIt's rare to see a vintage date on a domestic Brut sparkling wine, and that's testimony to this producer's commitment to quality. A sparkling wine, unlike its still wine counterparts, is generally sold as non-vintage. So when you see a vintage date on a bottle of bubbles, you know it was an exceptional year AND it spent more time on the lees after its secondary fermentation in the bottle - a winemaking decision that adds complexity to both aromatic and flavor profiles. For example, by law a vintage Champagne must spend at least 36 months on the lees. This one spent 48 months.
Speaking of the rarified world of Champagne, France, have you ever heard of the famed producer, Jacques Selosse? He has been branded as an iconoclast for making his wines from fully ripe grapes with the goal of each release being the best possibe expression of a given vintage. In a land where the tradition is to painstakingly blend each release to achieve a given "house style", you can imagine how the tongues are wagging over this decision! And while his wines are unique and divisive, they also sell for $800 - $1,200+ a bottle, among the most expensive in the already rarified world of Champagne. So...
It interested me to learn the Caracciolis seek the same goal in their sparkling wines - to achieve the best expression their estate vineyard can offer in from vintage to vintage.
As a result, no matter how popular their wine gets, or how many more awards it earns, the family is committed to an estate wine program. Which meanss they can't produce more wine without expanding their own vineyards. Perhaps not coincidentally, this commitment to estate-grown grapes is also found up North, in Anderson Valley's Roederer Estate, where the founding winemaker, the late Michel Salgues, had worked for years.
The Winery
A relative newcomer to Califorania wines Caraccioli Cellars was founded in 2006. It is home to the famous Escolle vineyard in Monterey county's lush Santa Lucia Highlands (SLH). If you're driving South from San Jose towards Salinas on Hwy 101, you'll see the vineyards of the SLH for about 20 solid minutes (assuming you're driving 80 MPH like the rest of the traffic!). Every few minutes you'll look over and say "yep, still more vineyards" - the size of this famous region will make an impression you'll not soon forget.
Escolle is by no means the largest vineyard in the SLH, but at 124 acres it is certanily considerable. It plays host to vines growing 28 acres of Chardonnay and 87 acres of Pinot Noir (classic sparkling wine grapes) and also smaller amounts of Syrah, Viognier and Gamay Noir.
The vineyard is farmed sustainably (SIP certified, which is an expensive and pain-staking certification to achieve) with no herbicides, manual weeding and no/minimal irrigation. Crop covers are used to minimize erosion, maintain soil health and manage canopy vigor.
