Something of a game changer though, proving that Napa Cabernet isn’t just 15.5%, oaky monsters. This is in fact just over a mere 13% alcohol. A masterclass in elegance, abundant red fruits, lots of bright cherry along with blackberry, cranberry, and mulberry, all framed with whispers of graphite, cedar, and pencil shavings. The palate is vibrant and fresh, with light tannin and beautiful acidity. If you have a decanter, so much the better!

As Steve says, “in the tradition of Cabernet Sauvignon, ours includes a small amount of Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, and is blended from six vineyards throughout the Napa Valley. The three AVAs are Coombsville for structure and black fruit, Rutherford for savory Cabernet characters, and Oak Knoll for bright fruit. It is a Napa Cab of the old school, a blended wine, age-worthy, complex, and begging for a steak off of the grill.”

For Steve and Jill Matthiasson, winemaking is a natural extension of farming. Their efforts are concentrated in the vineyards they own and lease, rather than in the winery, and their values are very much in tune with ours; sustainability, minimal intervention, a pursuit of balance, food-friendliness, freshness and lower alcohol levels. The irony of the ‘New Californians’ is that this is exactly how many of California’s wines used to be!

Steve was obsessed with farming from an early age and co-wrote the California manual on sustainable vineyard practices in 1999 but the move to Napa in 2002 saw Steve’s viticultural career really take off. As well as the work on their own wines, Steve is now widely regarded as California’s foremost viticultural consultant, helping the likes of Stag’s Leap Wine cellars, Araujo, Spottswoode and Saintsbury to farm sustainably and get the most out of their vineyards. His work centres around organic farming, biodiversity, and maximising ripeness while keeping a reign on sugar levels. It’s a team effort though, and wife Jill certainly brings some serious expertise to the business. Jill studied botany at Penn, researched ancient farming techniques in Israel, and studied traditional methods for soil health in grad school at UC Davis. She pioneered “farmer to farmer” networking for sustainability in the early 90s while working for a family farming non-profit, and ran programs training farmers on direct sales, such as CSAs and farmers markets, before local food had the momentum that it has now. Still heavily involved on the farming side, Jill is responsible for the business side of the business. We’re looking forward to when their children also get involved!

Dunnigan Hills, Yolo County

49% Barbera, just under than 20% each of Aglianico and Montepulciano, with the remaining 12-13% Cinsault and Carignane, from two sites in the warm Dunnigan Hills.

Delicious cherry fruit and blossom, almost cherry drop sweets with ripe strawberries and tart cranberries. Racy and so alive! The sort of bottle you want to grab off the rack when you get home and crack open. You’re safe and in for a treat!

This is the second label from Jill and Steve Matthiasson, who are better known for their pure, balanced wines with some pretty high end price tags! As well as producing these wines, Steve also consults for some of California's biggest names, Stag's Leap Wine Cellars and the Long Term Wine Co (also available from Nekter!) Away from all these fancy titles and wines, the Tendu brand was created to produce the ultimate Californian bbq wine -high quality fruit, hand crafted to create something fun, fresh and easy drinking. Tendu translates as tense, and these are vibrant wines, just the easy drinking ticket!

Napa Valley, USA

A remarkable white wine, and one of the wines that first singled Matthiasson out as a winemaker of real talent. Gorgeously fruity whilst retaining freshness - pears, lychees, oozy figs off the vine and semi dried pineapple. There’s spice in the form of nutmeg and cardamon, with a wonderfully waxy and nutty palate, finishing with osyter shell salinity and a lick of wet stone. Inspired by some of the most interesting wines from Europe and the new world, Steve’s mission was to create something new, but with its roots firmly in the past. And what an extraordinary blend it is!

A blend of Sauvignon Blanc, Ribolla Gialla, Semillon, and Tocai Friulano, the first brings clean acidity and tropical notes, with the Ribolla Gialla bringing seashell minerality, nuttiness, and structure whilst the Semillon contributes viscosity and waxiness that adds gravity and weight. The Tocai Friulano (don’t panic if you haven’t heard of that grape - for a long time it was mistaken for Sauvignon Blanc, but in fact is its own variety, made famous in many Friuli whites) adds spicy aromatic notes. All fruit is sourced from two vineyards in the Valley - Ryan’s vineyard, planted on a tiny patch on gravel on the valley floor, and the Friuli varieties from the Bengier Vineyard in Oak Knoll.

For Steve and Jill Matthiasson, winemaking is a natural extension of farming. Their efforts are concentrated in the vineyards they own and lease, rather than in the winery, and their values are very much in tune with ours; sustainability, minimal intervention, a pursuit of balance, food-friendliness, freshness and lower alcohol levels. The irony of the ‘New Californians’ is that this is exactly how many of California’s wines used to be!

Steve was obsessed with farming from an early age and co-wrote the California manual on sustainable vineyard practices in 1999 but the move to Napa in 2002 saw Steve’s viticultural career really take off. As well as the work on their own wines, Steve is now widely regarded as California’s foremost viticultural consultant, helping the likes of Stag’s Leap Wine cellars, Araujo, Spottswoode and Saintsbury to farm sustainably and get the most out of their vineyards. His work centres around organic farming, biodiversity, and maximising ripeness while keeping a reign on sugar levels. It’s a team effort though, and wife Jill certainly brings some serious expertise to the business. Jill studied botany at Penn, researched ancient farming techniques in Israel, and studied traditional methods for soil health in grad school at UC Davis. She pioneered “farmer to farmer” networking for sustainability in the early 90s while working for a family farming non-profit, and ran programs training farmers on direct sales, such as CSAs and farmers markets, before local food had the momentum that it has now. Still heavily involved on the farming side, Jill is responsible for the business side of the business. We’re looking forward to when their children also get involved!

Clarksburg, California

100% Cortese, more often found in the cheap and cheerful whites of Piedmont, particularly Gavi! This white originates from the Lost Slough vineyard, located on the Sacramento River Delta - a site that benefits from cool breezes and good diurnal temperature variation, meaning the grapes retain excellent freshness.

Fresh and fruity, but with a pleasant, deceptive oomph to the palate - orange peel, soft spice and stone fruits - fuzzy apricots and peaches with a hint of texture. Like all of Steve’s wines, it overdelivers, and is a delightful expression of this Italian grape.

This is the second label from Jill and Steve Matthiasson, who are better known for their pure, balanced wines with some pretty high end price tags! As well as producing these wines, Steve also consults for some of California's biggest names, Stag's Leap Wine Cellars and the Long Term Wine Co (also available from Nekter!) Away from all these fancy titles and wines, the Tendu brand was created to produce the ultimate Californian bbq wine - high quality fruit, hand crafted to create something fun, fresh and easy drinking. Tendu translates as tense, and these are vibrant wines, just the easy drinking ticket!

Oak Knoll, Napa Valley, USA

Lovely ripe fruits without seemingly overtly ripe - yellow peaches, canteloupe melon, golden delicious apple and a mealy honeyed note. There’s a luscious creaminess in the 2017 release, but it’s certainly all still relative, considering Steve’s style of winemaking and his aversion to anything big and buttery! Think lemon syllabub, rather than lemon oil. The fleshy palate is matched with well driven acidity, moderate alcohol (12.2%) and a mouthwatering, crystalline fresh finish.

From the vineyard right behind Jill and Steve’s house in West Oak Knoll on the Napa Valley floor. The cool winds and clay soils here preserve zesty acidity and freshness, while the Napa sun provides some richness and ripeness.

For Steve and Jill Matthiasson, winemaking is a natural extension of farming. Their efforts are concentrated in the vineyards they own and lease, rather than in the winery, and their values are very much in tune with ours; sustainability, minimal intervention, a pursuit of balance, food-friendliness, freshness and lower alcohol levels. The irony of the ‘New Californians’ is that this is exactly how many of California’s wines used to be!

Steve was obsessed with farming from an early age and co-wrote the California manual on sustainable vineyard practices in 1999 but the move to Napa in 2002 saw Steve’s viticultural career really take off. As well as the work on their own wines, Steve is now widely regarded as California’s foremost viticultural consultant, helping the likes of Stag’s Leap Wine cellars, Araujo, Spottswoode and Saintsbury to farm sustainably and get the most out of their vineyards. His work centres around organic farming, biodiversity, and maximising ripeness while keeping a reign on sugar levels. It’s a team effort though, and wife Jill certainly brings some serious expertise to the business. Jill studied botany at Penn, researched ancient farming techniques in Israel, and studied traditional methods for soil health in grad school at UC Davis. She pioneered “farmer to farmer” networking for sustainability in the early 90s while working for a family farming non-profit, and ran programs training farmers on direct sales, such as CSAs and farmers markets, before local food had the momentum that it has now. Still heavily involved on the farming side, Jill is responsible for the business side of the business. We’re looking forward to when their children also get involved!

2014 Napa Valley Merlot, Red Hen Vineyard

The wine is 100 percent Merlot from the historic Red Hen Vineyard. Our block is in the far northwest corner of the vineyard, nestled into the crook of Dry Creek. This block has been the basis of our Red Wine since 2003 (Steve started overseeing the farming back in 2002), and it was the inspiration for starting our own commercial wine venture. The vineyard sold, and our block is so rocky and low yielding that the new owners of the vineyard planned on putting their reservoir in this location. We couldn’t let this happen, so we convinced them to lease us the block so we could farm it ourselves, which we have been doing all of these years. The fruit was fermented in a small, open-top tank and punched down by hand two to three times a day, depending on the rate of extraction. The wine was aged in 2 new French oak Bousset barrels, and 6 older neutral barrels. The wine was bottled after 20 months of elevage, with no rackings.

The pH is 3.59, the acidity is 5.9 g/l, and the alcohol is 13.9%. 160 cases produced.

The wine has the richness and aromatic profile of Merlot, with impeccable balance and elegance. The Red Hen Merlot always has beautiful acidity even at a high level of ripeness, one of the fascinating aspects of this special terroir. The vineyard always gives intense cherry and fresh bay aromas, and is balanced by notes of chocolate, tea and earth. 2014 was warm but had ample spring rains, so the texture is more plush than the more structured 2013. As always it is defined by its beautiful and complex fruitiness and savory herbal qualities.

2020 Napa Valley Ribolla Gialla, Matthiasson Vineyard
Ribolla Gialla originates in the Friuli region of Italy and across the border in Slovenia. An ancient grape variety, its earliest known mention was by the Pope in 1296. Ribolla Gialla makes an unparalleled food wine, filling the gap in food pairing between white wines and red wines—it can be amazing with pork and stewed pome fruit, fatty raw seafood, cured meats, and intense cheeses. We have been making “orange wine” from this fruit since 2008, fermenting the wine whole cluster, with the skins and stems, until dryness.

The wine is 100 percent Ribolla gialla from our home vineyard.

The wine was fermented whole cluster with native yeast in an open-top tank using punchdowns. After two weeks the must was pressed, and the wine was aged for 18 months in neutral barrels. The wine aged sur lees and it was never racked. No SO2 was used until a tiny amount at bottling.

The alcohol is 13.0%, the pH is 3.9 and the TA is 5.35. 253 cases produced.

The Ribolla gialla tastes like hazelnuts, baking spices, meyer lemon curd, Bartlett pear, but most of all it has a stony minerality that is incredibly distinctive. There is supple tannic structure and fresh balanced acidity, with great weight and length given the moderate alcohol.

The Vineyard
The Ribolla gialla represents seven rows in our home (“Matthiasson”) vineyard in the Western Oak Knoll area of Napa Valley. It was grafted onto 15 year old Merlot vines. George Vare was given a few sticks of the budwood from Josko Gravner in 2001 and grafted it into his own vineyard, which Steve was managing. Steve (and then Jill) fell in love with the variety in the process, and immediately grafted the variety into their own vineyard when they purchased it in 2006. Farmed using only organic methods, with fruit trees at the ends of the rows, the vines are serenaded throughout the season by kids, coyotes, owls, bees, and the occasional roar of one of our old tractors.