Desire Lines “Lichau Hill” Cabernet Sauvignon '21

Desire Lines is the work of Cody and Emily Rasmussen, a husband-and-wife team who moved to California from the Midwest in 2011. In 2013, Cody started working as assistant winemaker at Bedrock Wine Co. (where he is now head winemaker), and a few years later they made their first wine, establishing Desire Lines.

Working with carefully farmed vineyards throughout Northern California, an area that is home to a stunningly rich assortment of historically significant and distinctive vineyards, they produce singular wines of character that are faithful to their vineyard sources and absolutely delicious.

In the cellar, they practice native yeast fermentations, often using whole cluster in many of the red wines, and age the wines in mostly neutral oak and large-format barrels.

After a few years without making a Cabernet Sauvignon from the Lichau Hill vineyard, a gap caused by the smoke exposure in 2020 as well as an increase in the period of élevage for this bottling, Desire Lines has a new release of this delicious Cabernet Sauvignon. The vineyard is a special site for California Cabernet, in Petaluma Gap, a cool-climate area named for the wind that funnels through lower Sonoma County, caused by a coastal mountain opening. The wine shows notes of raspberry, cassis, and rose petal, with spice, cedar, and tobacco as well. Fresh acidity, fine-grained tannins, and a bright core of red fruit are all wonderfully balanced.

Drink now, but hold some bottles through 2040.