Cinsault from the historic Bechtold Vineyard in the Mokelumne River AVA of Lodi. The twenty-five acre own-rooted Bechthold vineyard, planted in 1886 by German immigrant Joseph Spenker, is the oldest continuously farmed vineyard in Lodi. Bechtold is farmed organically, without irrigation, on Tokay Fine Sandy Loam soils, which are rich in granitic minerals washed down from the Sierra Nevada range. Lodi may be the coolest area of the Central Valley, with evening temperatures moderated by breezes from the Sacramento River Delta. However, hot daytime temperatures during July and August can be punishing, though these 136 year-old vines shrug off high temperatures, and bring intensely flavored grapes at remarkably modest levels of alcohol and surprising acidities to produce very elegant wines. Fermented with native yeasts and matured in large puncheons and old French barrels. Bottled unfined and unfiltered.