Ruth Lewandowski Boaz Red Wine 2021, Testa Vineyard, Mendocino, California

Vintage 2021 was a soul-crushingly lean vintage in terms of yields. This was true all over the Mendocino sites and the Testa Vineyard was not spared from this, so sadly there just isn’t quite as much to go around. “That said, what we got was landmark, quality wise. Maria Testa Martinson and her family have been farming these plots for about 100 years and the intuitive farming knowledge, love and attention shows in every single cluster. This is a co-ferment every year of our favorite parcels on the property. Carignan is earth, smoke and huckleberry spice (and acid!) while the Grenache and Cabernet play supporting roles of candied strawberry and floral, herbal tea. “Ruth” is a concept more than a living, breathing individual. “From the wreckage of death and tragedy at the beginning of the book of Ruth in the Bible, a young woman finds life, finds beauty and is able to truly live….not simply in spite of the death, but because the death occurred at all. The regeneration of the life of our soils occurs only through organic matter…all completely dead, broken down carbon-based items. A natural fermentation is the building up and dying off of multiple strains of yeast and bacteria, each paving the way for the next strain to take over (and each leaving their altogether unique signatures of flavor, aroma, and textural compounds).”