Description
Before John Donaghue cut his teeth in the vineyards and cellar with the Cali King of Minimal Intervention, Gideon Beinstock, of Clos Saron, he was working as an engineer on a skyscraper in San Francisco. Using similar low-intervention techniques, neutral oak, and native fermentations, his wines are characteristically vibrant, complex and balanced. This Albariño, from Andrus Island Vineyard in the Sacramento Delta, is whole-cluster press and full malo, yielding a luscious, lip-smacking wine with a swoon-worthy, almost briny, juiciness and packed with ripe stone fruit. You could throw darts blindfolded at a list of possible pairings. It's all bliss.