Osa Major Carignan Sierra Foothills 2022
The vibe: We’re so excited to bring in Osa Major as it’s a one woman show and the wines she’s making are representative of the light, crunchy, juicy styles we love so much but rarely see coming out of California. Emily Fernwood makes all of her wines thoughtfully and intentionally, especially when it comes to the fruit. The bottle before you is 100% Carignan, a red grape of Spanish origin that is commonly found in southern French blends. The fruit is grown in the Sierra Foothills at Tyee Vineyards, a new site for this vintage due to early season frosts and drought at the previous site. It’s got all this crunchy red fruit up front, which eases you into its supple tannic depths and a lingering finish reminiscent of much bigger wines. It’s giving leather and pomegranate and plum skins and some subtle tobacco leaf, with a helping of tangy acidity. It’s complex yet oh so easy to drink. Yes please.
The winemaker: Osa Major Wines is a one woman enterprise - from trucking grapes to selling bottles and everything in between. Winemaker and owner Emily Fernwood spent the years after college traveling and working harvest gigs the world over, from California and Oregon to Australia and New Zealand, until founding Osa Major Wines in 2020. As a Bay Area native, the time was right to return home and explore the incredible variety of geology and history that can be found in the vineyards in some of California’s unique known and lesser known wine regions, while crafting wines that explore a lighter and brighter side of California winemaking.
The geeky details: From Osa Major: This pick was the textbook example of perfect grapes -not a blemish to be found, perfect chemistry, smooth fermentation, and wild deep fruit all the way through. Tyee Vineyard is a new addition to the portfolio this year, after early season frosts and drought dramatically reduced crop yeilds at our previous Carignan site. Though nearly opposite in every way (young, on sloping iron rich igneous soil) it shows strong varietal similarities with previous vintages, showing that Carignan, when vinified in a straghtforward way, has a strong identity wherever it is planted.
Serve: Cellar temp or with a light chill.