2013 Three Wine Company Carignane Lucchesi Vineyard Contra Costa County 750 ml

Matt’s Last Lucchesi Vintage…For Now

We have a real rarity on offer today: Matt Cline’s magnificent 2013 Three Wine Company Carignane Lucchesi Vineyard wouldn’t exist without YOU—and is unfortunately the last bottling for the foreseeable future. Why? From 2014-2016, the vines were off-limits, held in limbo by the California Department of Water. But thanks to Matt, and letters from our own Three Wine loyalists, those vines were saved from the bulldozers. A few weeks back, I went to see those vines first-hand. Pictured above Matt and I inspected leaf canopies and berry-set in the dry-farmed 112-year-old Lucchesi Vineyard. “You can’t cook with just one ingredient,” Matt told me. So, he blends the ancient-vine Carignane with Zinfandel, Petite Sirah, and Mataro. “If Carignane and Mataro is planted in shale or sand and you don’t irrigate it,” he explained, “you get Priorat or what I have in Contra Costa—this unbelievable concentration. It’s all about the mouthfeel.” He pulled out two glasses and a bottle of the 2013 Lucchesi Carignane. Simply put, this wine is a California treasure: a voluptuous texture, mouthwatering acidity, and extravagant black-fruit concentration. $32 on release, just $22.99 today—28% off—with sincere thanks from Matt.

Most of the vines at Lucchesi are planted on their own rootstock, never having been threatened by phylloxera—courtesy of the site’s New Delhi sandy soils. There are no trellises, so every vine is unique in shape and size, making the vineyard appear like a sculpture garden. Harvesting must be done by hand, and to pick the fruit one has to literally dive headfirst into the canopy.

The Lucchesi Vineyard holds a special place in our hearts at Wine Access. Truly, this wine wouldn’t exist without us, and especially YOU. The ancient, 112-year-old Carignane vines from Alan Lucchesi’s dry-farmed vineyard were almost uprooted by the California Department of Water Resources. Almost. But demand for this voluptuous, black-fruited bottling was so high, that when we rallied you, the Wine Access faithful, to write to the Water Department and urge, no, compel them to preserve this historic vineyard, you did. And WE WON!

Thirty years ago, a young Matt Cline, fresh out of UC Davis, returned to his grandfather's ranch east of San Francisco Bay on the white sands of Oakley. He scoured Contra Costa County before setting his sights on a handful of vineyards that had been planted by expats from the Boot more than a decade before the turn of the 20th century. One of his greatest finds was the Lucchesi Vineyard, exposed to cold, fierce afternoon winds off the San Pablo Bay that took the edge off the summer heat.

The vineyard had been planted in the 1880s by a subsistence farmer named Joaquin Jose, who arrived in the country a decade earlier via clipper ship. The mix of grapes—mainly Carignane, plus some Zinfandel, Petit Sirah, and Mataro—was typical for the times, when growers rooted their own cuttings, filling out blocks with whatever was at hand. Today, in the hands of third-generation grower Alan Lucchesi, it is a mix that balances elegance with richness, with the Petit Sirah adding structure and color to the tremendous black-cherry concentration of the Carignane, while the Mataro and Zinfandel lend dried herb and raspberry notes.

“This is my 33rd harvest,” Matt said, removing his sunglasses. Taking stock of his vines, he added, “I’ve been working with this same vineyard for 30 different vintages. Since the start of my career I only missed 2014, 2015, and 2016—the three years the state kept us from farming the vineyard, and going through this process of saving the vines, and we ultimately saved it! And Alan was able to get back in here last year in 2017, to properly prune it and start taking care of the vineyard again.”

In the magic 2013 vintage, as in most years, the yield off Lucchesi hovered around 4.5 tons per acre, the perfect number in Matt’s estimation—not so little as to risk over-ripeness, not so much as to result in dilution. “Mother Nature just finds a way, providing just enough heat to ripen and hit that ideal balance between phenolics and the fruit.” Acidity remained high thanks to the moderately warm growing season, buttressing the Carignane’s rich, chewy opulence. This is your last chance at this under-$25 stunner for the foreseeable future.