North Coast, California

Little strawberries sprinkled with black pepper, pink peppercorns and ripe red currant coulis. Restrained and light in body, lashing of freshness, with a bit of grip to balance it.

The 2021 Counoise is simply labelled as “North Coast,” as grapes are sourced from two different vineyards. 50% from a young site just northwest of Napa, that was in fact planted as a group effort by Steve Matthiasson, Jack Roberts of Keep and the Benevolent Neglect boys themselves. The other 50% is from one of the first official Counoise plantings in Mendocino - a site planted in the early 90s.

Established by east coast escapees, Ben Brenner and Matt Nagy, Benevolent Neglect got their break when winemaker Matt was fortunate to be offered some Syrah from the legendary Las Madres vineyard in 2013. Matt had previously produced 11 100-point wines at Maybach, whilst Ben works at Rutherford Wine Co. As the name suggests, they work with as little intervention as possible, “to be the reliable translator from what was made in the vineyard from sun, water and soil, and gently let it become finest wine possible.”