Far Mountain, `Fission` Moon Mountain District Cabernet Sauvignon

Far Mountain was founded by Chilean winemaker Rodrigo Soto and his wife, Mai Errazuriz, in 2018. Having spent several decades working for leading wineries across the Americas, the couple established this project, believing that the remote pockets of the Sonoma Valley mountains had the potential to make some of California’s most exciting wines. With this philosophy in mind, they sought out exceptional vineyards, predominantly in the Moon Mountain District AVA, and launched their first release, the 2019 vintage, to international acclaim.

Rodrigo is a biodynamics pioneer, being the first winemaker to introduce this farming method to Chile when he hired Alan York as a vineyard consultant. This was a pivotal moment for Chilean viticulture and has since been adopted by many of the country’s leading wineries. At Far Mountain, he has continued to draw on his vast knowledge of biodynamic farming, working closely with like-minded growers in Sonoma’s Moon Mountain District AVA to slowly introduce the practice. Rodrigo and Mai seek to capture the truest expression of these vineyards in the cellar by using low-intervention winemaking and minimal new oak.

The ‘Myrna’ Chardonnay comes from the ‘Bald Mountain’ Vineyard, a site nestled into the second-highest peak in the Mayacamas mountains, at around 550 metres above sea level. Planted in 1972, the vines lie in a cool bowl at the bottom of the site and, unusually, are planted with heritage California clones and rootstock. They are dry farmed, which allows the vines to thrive in poor, fractured soils and results in a distinct saline character in the wine. This fruit is supplemented by a small parcel of thirty-year-old vines from ‘Thornton’ Vineyard, at the foot of Sonoma Mountain. This lends a precise acidity to the wine from the more ocean-influenced climate.

The Chardonnay is whole-cluster pressed, and only 30% of the wine undergoes malolactic fermentation to retain freshness. Frequent lees-stirring is used early in the ageing period to add texture. The ‘Myrna’ Chardonnay evidences the mineral depth of the Bald Mountain site, with layers of precise yellow fruit and spice lifted by a saline freshness.

The ‘Fission’ Cabernet Sauvignon is sourced from the ‘Alta Vista’ Vineyard in the Moon Mountain District AVA, at 300 metres above sea level in the Sonoma Valley. The vines are fifty years old and have never been irrigated, both rare qualities in California, and continue to produce exceptional fruit at twice the age that most vines in California need to be replanted. This is helped by deep 20 - 40 feet root systems, the volcanic bedrock of decomposed granite on which the vines lie and the cooling, high-elevation breezes. This combination lends the Cabernet Sauvignon a defined structure with an elegant, graphite-mineral profile.

The Cabernet Sauvignon is handled gently and destemmed to keep the berries whole. This approach is dictated by the Alta Vista vineyard, which has numerous expositions and different mutations of Cabernet Sauvignon. The wine then ages in barrels, of which 27% are new. The resulting wine is earthy and fragrant with a core of expressive blackberry fruit and refined tannins.