2019 Ardure Zinfandel Beveridge Vineyard

Region: Dry Creek Valley < Sonoma < CA
Grape: Zinfandel
Vineyard/Cellar Stats: CCOF-certified organic farming; soils are gravelly loam with huge chunks of energetic quartz crystal strewn throughout; grapes were picked over 3 days within one week to make 6 different barrels of juice that were eventually blended back into the finished product.  Two barrels were made like a vin gris rosé and picked the first day at 19.6 brix, foot tread and left on skins for 3 hours then pressed off and fermented in a stainless tank until almost finished with primary fermentation, further racked into 2 neutral french oak barrels for 10 month elevage. 2nd, 3rd lots were picked a week later on two consecutive days at 22.3 brix.  Whole cluster fermented in T bins until almost finished with primary fermentation where I did full body pigeage to break up the partial carbonic berries on the bottom.  Racked into neutral french oak barrels for 10 month elevage; bottled unfined, unfiltered with no added So2; zero-zero; 12.8% ABV
Winemaker: Jason Ruppert

Ardure, which translates to "the heat of passion" in olde French, is a brand-new project from my good friend Jason Ruppert, who has a long history in Bay Area wine.  He started as a sommelier running wine programs in Marin, Sonoma and SF before migrating into wine production, where he learned the ropes of biodynamic and organic farming from gurus like Ted Lemon of Littorai and Steve Matthiasson.  He also worked three vintages with Pax Mahle, Scott Schultz of Jolie Laide, Ryan and Megan Glaab of RYME and Jaimee Motley before being given the opportunity to farm two vineyards on his own and to make his first set of three wines for his inaugural vintage, 2018.

Jason farms both his Chardonnay from Marin county and Zinfandel from Dry Creek Valley naturally, with no sprays of copper or sulphur.  Both sites are also implementing regenerative farming methods, working with specific cover crops to help nourish and protect the soil. The wines are vinified in the most natural of ways with their healthy, native yeasts, basket pressing and letting all wines go through malolactic fermentation on their own, and using little to no sulphur right before bottling. He also uses different crystals during primary fermentation to add in extra energetic vibrancy.  We LOVE this.

When asked to describe Ardure, Jason told us, "The general philosophy behind Ardure is integrity within making truly natural wines from the ground up. Conscious farming, attentive vinification and diligent care for our environment. And I ferment my wines with crystals to increase energetic vibration and to also stabilize the natural algorithm within the wine."