Paso Roble’s Biodynamic Superstar Villa Creek is Back with Big Press

Villa Creek is making red and white wines entirely unlike the conventional archetype of Paso Robles these days. Rather than jammy fruit bombs or super smooth patio sippers, the biodynamic wines of the Maha Estate are earthy, mineral, and soulful above all else, reflecting both the care Villa Creek is taking in the vineyard and the location of the vines themselves.

Nestled in the hills at 1800 feet above sea level, Grenache vines make up the core of Villa Creek's vineyards, alongside other Rhône varietals like Carignan, Mourvèdre, Petite Sirah, Syrah, Clairette and Roussanne. Today their wines resemble Châteauneuf du Pape more than warm climate California reds, with a restraint and elegance that has wone over top critics.

Embracing biodiversity in the vineyards, it's not uncommon to find a flock of sheep roaming the land during Winter and Spring, nibbling on grass and fertilizing as they go. That attention to detail in the vineyard yields a purity of fruit that is unparalleled in many California red wines at this price point. 

Check out the glowing review from Vinous, or take our word for it. If you like Rhône style blends, then Villa Creek needs to be on your radar.

Villa Creek Cherry House Red Paso Robles 2020 750ml - $22.99

92 POINTS: VINOUS - Saturated magenta. High-pitched red fruit, floral and spice qualities on the incisive nose. Juicy and energetic on the palate, offering zesty raspberry, boysenberry and candied lavender flavors sharpened by a spicy suggestion of white pepper. Finishes long and tight, with smooth tannins and lingering spiciness. Cris Cherry continues to refine his style at Villas Creek. One thing that has impressed me in recent years is the lack of what I would call a house style. These elegant wines, vary quite a bit, depending on variety, which I find impressive as many other wineries, including some of the best, do express a winemaker's signature, but not in this case. 

Two Exclusive Single Barrel Ryes For July 4th

While Bourbon is enjoying its time in the American whiskey limelight, many still consider rye whiskey to be the original American spirit. Cultivated and distilled in the American colonies before the Constitution was even written, rye whiskey has been a staple of American life for almost three hundred years!

During our last trip to Kentucky, we selected a large swatch of Bourbon barrels from Knob Creek that have been released over the last six months. However, we’ve been holding these two rye whiskey casks back in anticipation of America’s birthday. What better way to celebrate American whiskey culture than with two unique, high-proof single barrel rye whiskies that capture the essence of what whiskey is all about!

Each barrel is named after the floor of the rick house that it was matured on, along with the dominant characteristic of the whiskey itself. Both barrels were aged high in the Kentucky rick house, ensuring a rich flavor and high-power proof.

Knob Creek “Fifth Floor Fruit Orchard” Mission Exclusive Single Barrel 57.5% Kentucky Rye Whiskey $59.99

Brimming with poached apricots and a hint of Bing cherry, this round and supple rye whiskey combines the ripeness of a fruit orchard with the spiciness and ample baking spices that come from a rye whiskey mash bill. Loaded with punch at 115 proof, this Knob Creek single barrel captures the fruitiness and freshness reminiscent of the old Maryland rye whiskey style. 

Knob Creek “Sixth Floor Sweetness” Mission Exclusive Single Barrel 57.5% Kentucky Rye Whiskey $59.99

From higher up in the Kentucky rick house, the intense summer heat on the sixth floor coerced an intense sweetness out of this single barrel, embalming a vein of vanilla, brown sugar, and oak spices that permeates every aspect of this rye whiskey from front to back. Cinnamon and clove notes bring up the finish with a blast of heat from the 57.5% ABV. For those who like their rye whiskey more like Kentucky Bourbon, this is the barrel for you.

One of Italy's Most Dynamic White Wines for Less Than $25

The origins of the Manincor estate date back to the early 1600s, when the family first received a plot of land next to Lake Caldaro from the Emperor of Austria. Located in Italy's Alto Adige region (also known as Südtirol) and nestled into the Dolomites, Manincor's high-altitude, mountainous terrain is famous for producing white wines of distinction and character—brimming with acidity, yet delicate in flavor.

While grapes have been grown on the property for ages, it wasn’t until 1991 that the Count Michael Goëss-Enzenberg created the Manincor winery and took the focus of the estate to sustainability and biodynamic farming. They’ve never looked back since. 

Today, the estate is a paragon of biodiversity and a model for new winemakers all over Europe and California.  As Eric Guido from Vinous notes, “You’ll find flocks of sheep roaming the vineyards as well as trees, corn, clover and flowers growing throughout. In the winery, the processes are gentle, employing spontaneous fermentations. What’s most amazing to think about when tasting through this portfolio of high-energy yet deep wines, is that Manincor is also one of the largest family-owned wineries in the region. In the end, their passion shines through in the wines.”

Today, we’re excited to offer one of Manincor’s most beloved white wines for almost $10 less than the standard MSRP. A marriage of Pinot Blanc, Chardonnay, and Sauvignon Blanc, the Contessa combines fruit from two different vineyards—one cooler and one warmer—to fuse freshness and acidity with ripeness and depth of flavor. 100% biodynamically-farmed and fermented with native yeasts, the purity of the wine is impeccable and truly expressive of its terrain.

Manincor Reserve Della Contessa 2021 750ml - $21.99

Dry and snappy on the palate, the juxtaposition of minerality and weight is truly superb. Think Chablis or Sancerre meets Napa Chardonnay, but with an extra dose of honeysuckle. 

92 POINTS: JAMES SUCKLING - With its effusive nose of white currants and elderberry blossom, you could almost mistake this elegant dry white for a Sauvignon Blanc. Very clean and crisp, but also with a healthy amount of substance and a complex citric and wet-stone finish that’s surprisingly long for an entry-level wine. From biodynamically grown grapes with Respekt certification. Drink or hold. 

An Amazing Single Barrel of Tequila

It’s fascinating how trends in the wine and spirit industry can cross genres and borders, evolving into greater statements about the evolution of consumer tastes. Just a few years ago, there was still a huge demand for big California red wines, as well as heavily-oaked Tequilas. Customers wanted the richest and roundest liquids available.

Yet, as younger generations have graduated into adulthood, looking for alternatives from the sweeter style of alcohol, we’ve seen a huge shift at Mission into lighter, lower alcohol, and even natural wines. More and more people are paying attention to how their beverages are made, which has created ripples in the Tequila market given the fact that so many today are adulterated with artificial flavoring, sugar, and glycerol. 

In the realm of additive-free Tequila, perhaps no figure looms larger than Carlos Camarena—the master distiller for El Tesoro and Tapatìo, whose long-standing commitment to only the finest, purest Tequilas had made him a legend (as well as his brother Felipe, who now manages G4 Tequila). 

While the oakier Añejo Tequilas are often more popular with the whiskey crowd, true Tequila fans tend to prefer Blanco and Reposado expressions because the clean flavor of agave isn’t masked by the wood, allowing the talents of the distiller to shine through. For that reason, we sat down with Carlos earlier this year to select a single cask of his finest Reposado Tequila from La Alteña Distillery, and we are very excited to tell you about its arrival.

This Mission Exclusive single barrel Tequila has an exquisite balance of herbaceousness, sweetness, and spice. The peppery notes from the agave shine through immediately, bolstered by an undercurrent of citrus that is wrapped up and cradled by baking spices and light butterscotch notes from the oak. Overall, it’s a masterclass in “real” Tequila: the purity and quintessence of blue agave, allowed to shine in full glow, with just a little touch of wood for good measure.

We hope you all enjoy this single barrel exclusive as much as we do!

El Tesoro “Mission Exclusive” Single Barrel Reposado Tequila $59.99

A Hidden Gem In Saumur Champigny

As we’ve mentioned in previous blog posts, there’s a revolution underfoot in the French countryside. The sons and daughters of aging winemakers are taking over their multigenerational estates and choosing to do things differently than their parents. Dominique Joseph from Le Petit Saint-Vincent is a perfect example, having pulled his family’s domaine out of the bulk wine business and converting the entire estate to organic farming a decade ago. 

Today, the 13 hectare domaine is almost entirely planted to Cabernet Franc and his old vine selections have become decidedly famous among younger generations of wine drinkers who have given up on finding (or affording!) a bottle of Clos Rougeard at $200 a pop. American wine critics are also big fans. Jon Bonné, the author of the newly-released and expansive tome “The New French Wine” included Le Petit Saint-Vincent in his top producers, writing: 

“The hidden gem is Les Clos Lyzières, from an even older parcel at the edge of Verrains, a proper clos in concept. This wine is slow to open, but has a remarkable dark mineral intensity and ripe but edgy plum fruit, a quintessence of Cabernet Franc.”

According to Joseph, the vineyard was once a walled-in clos, but the stones have since fallen and no longer remain. “We’re not in Brittany,” he remarked; “They’re not made of granite.” 

If you’re looking for a dark-fruited, expansive, and multi-layered French red, brimming with plummy fruit, yet with an undercurrent of graphite reminiscent of some of the finest Right Bank Bordeaux wines, there are few options this good for less than $100, let alone $30.

2018 Le Petit Saint Vincent “Les Clos Lyzières” Saumur-Champigny $29.99

Gerald Casale Visits Mission Pasadena

Every Spring we’re lucky enough to have Devo frontman and rock legend Gerald Casale in the Pasadena store to pour his latest 50 By 50 Sonoma Coast Rosé of Pinot Noir and sign autographs for the fans. Yesterday, we had a huge crowd of DEVOtees in the building the the rosé was flowing!

Gerald is a wealth of wine knowledge as well and took the time to sit down with our Pasadena wine team to break down all the specifics. A big thank you to Gerald Casale for making this an annual tradition at Mission!

The Best Wine We've Tasted In 2023 (So Far)

When you taste a wine so good that your knees buckle, your heart flutters, and your brain practically explodes, you know there's something special in your glass. That's almost precisely how the wine team at Mission felt this week after tasting the 2019 Domaine Chambeyron-Manin Côte-Rôtie--a wine so good, so special, and so rare that it may be the best wine we taste all year long. 

What exactly makes Domain Chambeyron-Manin so good? Let's start with the producer. 

First off, Christianne Manin and her family operate a small market offering locally-produced meats, cheeses, and produces, including a large amount of vegetables they grow themselves like radishes, spinach, chard, and a variety of lettuces. Her prowess for produce is of high renown in southern France. She also happens to make a small amount of wine.

How small? How about half a hectare!!

Yes, a teeny-tiny half hectare of 40-50 year old Syrah vines is farmed in Côte-Rôtie, of which a mere 165 total cases is made for the entire world!! Farmed entirely by hand, with hard-to-reach wines on steep slopes, the entire process of production is the definition of small artisanship.

As you might imagine, only a small percentage of that wine is shipped to the United States which means the few cases we have currently at Mission represent some of the miniscule bottles made available to American customers as a whole (not to mention the Mission staff members who are also buying this). 

What does it taste like? Like the most lushy, mouth-filling, concentrated fruit known to man, accented by violets and smoked meats, with a five minute finish that leaves you longing for more. 

Will we taste a better wine at Mission this year? Perhaps! There's still plenty of time ahead of us in 2023. But as of this moment it's our leading candidate for wine of the year. 

94 POINTS: VINOUS - Brilliant violet color. Highly perfumed, mineral-accented dark fruit liqueur, floral, olive and cracked pepper scents show excellent clarity and vibrant lift. Offers juicy blackberry, boysenberry and candied violet flavors that display fine clarity and subtly chewy texture. The impressively long, floral-tinged driven finish features discreet tannins and reverberating spice and mineral notes.

The Inspiration for Didier Dagueneau

Every now and then we come across a wine that lives up to just about everything we adore in the Mission wine department: amazing wine from a thoughtful producer in a beautiful bottle that defines the typicity of its regional character.

The 2019 "Les Herse" Silex Sancerre is an example of a wine that likely tastes far more interesting today than it did at the time of review (and the reviews were still good back then). Putting down Sauvignon Blanc to cellar isn't something we're used to in America, but the best Sancerre wines are capable of aging 5-10 years if not longer. Today we're focused on one such specimen. 

In today's Loire Valley lore, few producers carry as much esteem and prestige as the late Didier Dagueneau, whose mineral-driven whites become a wine geek calling card in the aughts of the 21st century. Yet, what few know is that Dagueneau took inspiration from the Gitton family's "silix" flint slopes in Sancerre, having studied with Pascal Gitton himself in the 1990s before soaring to international fame. Both his philosophy and winemaking style was shaped by his time with Gitton in Sancerre.

Pascal's cellar of Sancerre dates back to the 1980s and his wines are legendary for their ability to age decades while maintaining freshness. The chalky white silex slopes of Gitton's property create Sauvignon Blanc wines with electricity and ample fruit, balancing suppleness with freshness in a style that continues to evolve over time. These bottles already have three-plus years of cellaring done for you. As good as the 2019 already tastes, expect it to continue gaining complexity.

92 POINTS: JAMES SUCKLING - Gooseberry, lime, nettle and juniper on the nose. It's medium-bodied with bright tangy acidity. Compact, mineral and sleek with saline and spice undertones. Drink now or hold.

91 POINTS: WINE ENTHUSIAST - Fruity, crisp and with good acidity, this wine is just settling into balance. Touches of the wood aging are there along with brightly herbal green-fruit flavors. The wine is rich, with acidity as well as hints of tropical fruits in the background. Drink now.