2023 Desire Lines Wiley Vineyard Riesling, Anderson Valley

Our 2023 Wiley Vineyard Riesling was picked on October 19, over three weeks later than recent historical average. The vintage was absolutely dreamy for Riesling, with a long and drawn-out ripening cycle that kept sugars low and acids high while flavors ripened to intense levels. The wine is pure and crystalline, with a subtle salty concentration on the palate. The nose soars and leaps, pixelated in its intensity, with lemon citrus, beguiling florals, resinous herbs, and a slight brackishness on the nose. In other words, it tastes just as it should – like Riesling from a cold, maritime vineyard at the edge of ripening in the Deep End of Anderson Valley. Our 2023 Wiley Vineyard Riesling rings as clear as a bell, and shines as brilliantly as the setting sun over the ocean.

As with the 2022, we’ve chosen a reductive fermentation and élevage for our 2023 Wiley Vineyard Riesling (inspired by the wines and winemaking practices of Shafer-Frolich in Germany’s Nahe Valley, whose wines I deeply admire). Wiley tends to push reductive during fermentation, more so than Cole Ranch, developing flinty aromas and a steely tension that tempers the floral, citrus zesty effusiveness the wine otherwise flaunts. The more reductive élevage in stainless steel barrels leans into that tendency, rather than trying to fight it, retaining all the nuance and precision that the wine so naturally expresses.