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California Stars 'Love Me Love Me Not'
California Stars 'Love Me Love Me Not'
Grapes — Chardonnay and Orange Muscat (roughly 85/15)
Region — Northern California (Sonoma Coast, with fruit from Redwood Valley and Lodi depending on vintage)
Tasting Notes — Sunshine amber-gold in the glass. Tropical pineapple, mango, and lychee up front, giving way to baked apple, apricot, and orange blossom, with exotic citrus peel and a whisper of vanilla and almond underneath. The palate is juicy and saline with a light tannic chew from the skin contact, but the direct-pressed portion keeps everything zippy and lifted. Light but layered. Anything but cloying, and considerably more fun than most Chardonnay has any right to be.
The Wine — A skin contact white built out of deliberate contrast. The Chardonnay comes from the team's own farmed vineyard in west Sonoma County near Occidental on the true Sonoma Coast, planted in the early 1970s and ringed by redwoods, on Goldridge clay loam that suits dry farming beautifully. Half of that Chardonnay is pressed directly and fermented as a conventional white in stainless steel to preserve acidity and tension. The other half is destemmed and macerated on skins for twelve days, then raised in 300 gallon tanks for texture and grip. The Orange Muscat, from Hartwick Vineyard in Lodi, ferments seven days on its skins and brings the aromatic fireworks.
Everything is vinified separately and blended just before bottling. The result is a wine that reads as an orange wine without ever losing the freshness of a white.
Farming — Certified organic. The Sonoma Coast Chardonnay is farmed by the winemakers themselves on a dry-farmed site planted over fifty years ago; the Muscat is purchased from an organic grower. Hand harvested throughout.
Winemaking — Ambient yeast fermentation in open-top steel fermenters. Multiple Chardonnay plots vinified separately, split between direct press and twelve days of skin maceration, with the Muscat given seven days on skins. Blended just prior to bottling with 20ppm SO2 added, the only addition to the wine.
The Producer — California Stars is a collaboration between the team at Selection Massale and Shaunt Oungoulian and Diego Roig of Les Lunes Wine, two of the more admired names in Northern California's natural wine scene. They make three wines together: this skin contact white, a light chillable red called Fool Bloom, and a classic Cabernet and Merlot blend called Star Crossed.
Shaunt and Diego met at UC Davis but became genuine friends and eventual partners while staging separately in the Loire Valley, meeting up on weekends for what they describe as culinary adventures. Diego originally thought he would make beer. Shaunt started out as a chemistry student who had no interest in academia or research, found his way into wine, and was pushed toward formal study by a mentor who recognized the academic streak.
Their operation has grown considerably. The wines were once made in Shaunt's parents' basement; today they work out of a much larger purpose-built facility in Richmond, just outside Berkeley, in what has quietly become a serious winemaking community alongside producers like Purity and Subject to Change. The bigger cellar meant they could finally sign the vineyard contracts they wanted, and this wine is one of the happier results.
Drink It With — Fish tacos, grilled vegetables, Thai and Vietnamese food, Brie or Camembert, fried snacks of any kind, or a picnic that runs long.
California Stars 'Love Me Love Me Not'
Grapes — Chardonnay and Orange Muscat (roughly 85/15)
Region — Northern California (Sonoma Coast, with fruit from Redwood Valley and Lodi depending on vintage)
Tasting Notes — Sunshine amber-gold in the glass. Tropical pineapple, mango, and lychee up front, giving way to baked apple, apricot, and orange blossom, with exotic citrus peel and a whisper of vanilla and almond underneath. The palate is juicy and saline with a light tannic chew from the skin contact, but the direct-pressed portion keeps everything zippy and lifted. Light but layered. Anything but cloying, and considerably more fun than most Chardonnay has any right to be.
The Wine — A skin contact white built out of deliberate contrast. The Chardonnay comes from the team's own farmed vineyard in west Sonoma County near Occidental on the true Sonoma Coast, planted in the early 1970s and ringed by redwoods, on Goldridge clay loam that suits dry farming beautifully. Half of that Chardonnay is pressed directly and fermented as a conventional white in stainless steel to preserve acidity and tension. The other half is destemmed and macerated on skins for twelve days, then raised in 300 gallon tanks for texture and grip. The Orange Muscat, from Hartwick Vineyard in Lodi, ferments seven days on its skins and brings the aromatic fireworks.
Everything is vinified separately and blended just before bottling. The result is a wine that reads as an orange wine without ever losing the freshness of a white.
Farming — Certified organic. The Sonoma Coast Chardonnay is farmed by the winemakers themselves on a dry-farmed site planted over fifty years ago; the Muscat is purchased from an organic grower. Hand harvested throughout.
Winemaking — Ambient yeast fermentation in open-top steel fermenters. Multiple Chardonnay plots vinified separately, split between direct press and twelve days of skin maceration, with the Muscat given seven days on skins. Blended just prior to bottling with 20ppm SO2 added, the only addition to the wine.
The Producer — California Stars is a collaboration between the team at Selection Massale and Shaunt Oungoulian and Diego Roig of Les Lunes Wine, two of the more admired names in Northern California's natural wine scene. They make three wines together: this skin contact white, a light chillable red called Fool Bloom, and a classic Cabernet and Merlot blend called Star Crossed.
Shaunt and Diego met at UC Davis but became genuine friends and eventual partners while staging separately in the Loire Valley, meeting up on weekends for what they describe as culinary adventures. Diego originally thought he would make beer. Shaunt started out as a chemistry student who had no interest in academia or research, found his way into wine, and was pushed toward formal study by a mentor who recognized the academic streak.
Their operation has grown considerably. The wines were once made in Shaunt's parents' basement; today they work out of a much larger purpose-built facility in Richmond, just outside Berkeley, in what has quietly become a serious winemaking community alongside producers like Purity and Subject to Change. The bigger cellar meant they could finally sign the vineyard contracts they wanted, and this wine is one of the happier results.
Drink It With — Fish tacos, grilled vegetables, Thai and Vietnamese food, Brie or Camembert, fried snacks of any kind, or a picnic that runs long.