Stagiare Wines, Mendocino County Sultana Of Swat, 2023 GERMANYCOUNT326 The 2016 is a benchmark

The 2016 is a benchmark Left Bank vintage: a wet spring gave way to a long dry summer that produced Cabernet of precision and firm

and heavy-handed aging that define many traditional bottlings—letting the fruit speak with clarity and lift

elegant examples of Sangiovese are now being produced by dozens of producers

and white peach are wrapped around a core of chalk

The expression is married in the smallest casks available at the distillery: 200-litre ex-bourbon barrels that create a richer

Stagiare Wines, Mendocino County Sultana Of Swat, 2023 GERMANYCOUNT326 The 2016 is a benchmarkThe Sultan of Swat was Babe Ruth's nickname, and this old vine Carignan swings for the fences too. Brent Mayeaux of Stagiaire sourced it from organically farmed vines pushing 100 plus years old around Hopland in Mendocino County, then made it the way he makes everything, zero added sulfur, no fining, no filtering. It's beefier and more concentrated than you'd expect from Mendocino Carignan, with a savory, earthy grip under the dark fruit. Old vines,