2018 Floréz Shangra-li Mendo Savvy B

Region: Hopland < Mendocino County < California 

Grapes: Sauvignon Blanc

Vineyard/Cellar Stats: Organic Farming, dry-farmed, alluvial loam soil, destemmed and left on skins overnight, fermented in stainless steel, racked on the lees for 6 months; bottled unfined/unfiltered with no added SO2 (zero-zero); 12% ABV; 93 cases

Winemaker: James Jelks

Florèz wines is new on the scene (2017 start), so this is James’ first release, and he knocked it out of the park! Born in Santa Cruz and raised in Davis, James discovered wine in France, studied enology at UC Davis, worked at wineries around the world, then finally returned to Santa Cruz to do his own thing.  Now he’s sharing a production facility with Ryan Stirm (who makes our fav riesling, and Megan Bell of Margins -- the cool kids of Santa Cruz natty wine scene! James’ philosophy is that “I embrace old world technique and sensibility. Everything begins with the vineyards and the best quality starting ingredients.”  Those ingredients? Grapes -- just grapes.

I (Patience) first tried these wines this summer and fell head over heels in love with this Sauv Blanc. I was able to introduce the wine and my now friend, James, to Melissa at RAW LA, and after the first sip we begged him to save us some of this wine.  It was that good!  Super salty, juicy and exotic, it glows orange in the glass and tastes like passion fruit Sunny-D on the rocks, with mild tannins that keep it interesting. One of our FAVORITE wines of the year. Thanks Sant