The WineThis wine is 100% Greco, a grape rarely found in California. This is, I believe, the first CA Greco I've seen or tasted. Fans of Italian wines may know its most famous version from the Campania - the Greco di Tufo, a clone of the Greco Bianco. The wine is simply delicious - mouth watering, balanced, refreshing, with hints of citrus, garden herbs and lemon curd. Great with food. Delicious on its own. You can't miss.
Miniscule production. 14.2 ABV
The Winery
It's been a long viticultural road for consulting winemaker Andy Erikson, a portfolio that includes Screaming Eagle, Harlan Estate, Staglin Family, Mayacamas Vineyards and now... Casino Mine Ranch.
The Casino Mine Ranch was started long after the California gold rush, but when Simone and Sam Shaw (Sim-Sam Shaw) bought this Amador County land in 1936, they started drilling anyway. She named it the Casino Mine as it was a gamble as to whether it would ever strike gold.
And it's where Andy's childhood friend (and Sim's grand nephew), Rich Merryman, planted the vineyard and forced Andy to make good on his drunken bet, made at a party years ago, that Andy would make the wine if Rich planted grapes on their old childhood playground - the Casino Mine Ranch. At the time it seemed like a safe bet, as the land was populated by rattlesnakes, deserted mine shafts, and their boyhood memories.
And though Andy's the consulting winemaker on this label, the heavy lifting is done by Jessica Tarpy Shaheen, an adventurous and accomplished winemaker in her own right. She is the winemaker behind the Erikson family's own labels - Favia (Andy's wife is viticulturalist Annie Favia) and Leviathon.
