Description

Besson Vineyard’s old bush vine Grenache was planted on its own root stock in 1910.  The old vines are dry farmed on the well drained, sandy loam and granitic soils near Uvus creek in the windy Hecker Pass area of Gilroy in the Santa Clara Valley.  The vineyard was the original source for many of Randall Graham’s Bonny Doon “Cigar Volant” and “Clos du Gilroy”.  David Bruce and Ian Brand have made very successful wines from this vineyard site too!

The 2024 harvest at Besson Vineyard was one of the lowest-yielding vintages in the last 30 years yielding less than 1/2 ton per acre.  Just 287 cases were produced.

This is a singular Grenache.  No other varietals are blended for support. Very refined, pure and elegant Grenache, not over ripened, so there is true transparency and restraint. Quite literally loamy “strawberry fields forever”!  13.5% alcohol.  

Continuing a practice first begun during the extremely cold and late 2012 vintage, a small percentage of the grapes were “rested” post-harvest in small picking boxes for roughly 10
days prior to destemming and recombination with 100% of the rested stems. That fraction undergoes a 6-week fermentation/maceration on its skins, becoming significantly more tannic and
botanical than the main lot.  Owing to the low yields in 2024, the appassimento fraction here derives almost entirely from the 2023 vintage, totalling roughly 4% of the blend. For the main lot, 30% stems are included.  The fermentation is indigenous in stainless steel with twice daily pumpovers.  The wine is aged for ten months in a mix of traditional old 228L French barrique and neutral oak puncheon.  Bottled unfiltered in August of 2025.  

No ratings to date, but the 2023 vintage was rated 95 points by Wine Advocate.

Alex Krause and John Locke founded Birichino in Santa Cruz in 2008. Drawing on a combined four decades making wine in California, France, Italy, and beyond, they are focused on attaining the perfect balance of perfume, poise, and puckishness. Sourcing from a number of carefully farmed, family-owned, own-rooted 19th and early 20th century vineyards (and a few from the late disco era) planted by and large in more moderate, marine-influenced climates, their preoccupation is to safeguard the quality and vibrance of their raw materials. Their preference is for minimal intervention, most often favoring native fermentations, employing stainless or neutral barrels, minimal racking and fining, and avoiding filtration altogether when possible. But most critically, their aim is to make delicious wines that give pleasure, revitalize, and revive.