Skinner wines are all about tipping a brim to the wines of the Old World while embracing the glorious mountain terroir of El Dorado County. That being said, we maintain a delicate balance of ripeness and structure. Mourvèdre is known for being “funky”. We’ve seen interpretations of it being dusty, green, barnyard-y, leathery, jammy… the full spectrum. For our purposes, we want to produce a Mourvèdre that is consistent with our style, which is to say upright, poised and luscious, while embracing a little bit of that funky pizazz. Picking at absolutely perfect ripeness is key, followed by meticulous hand-sorting, gentle handling and careful tannin management. We employ significant amounts of whole cluster, as the stems bring forth dizzying aromatics, layers of spice and sappy, sweet tannins. We handle our native fermentations with the remontage technique (versus the more commonly used pigeage, or punch down); gentler on the berries, but aggressively more aerobic for the juice, encouraging high CO2 production which both protects and bolsters our aromatic profile. Made up of numerous small lots and varying clonal material, we aim to produce Mourvèdre that is true to varietal, and sings the praises of the terroir from whence it came. Gently pressed, settled, and sent to barrel for 15 months.