Casa Vieja Mission

Grapes: Pais aka Mission

Region: Baja California, Mexico 

Vintage: 2020

Viticulture: Organic

Soils: Sany Loam + Granite

Vinification: Grapes are destemmed by hand, crushed by foot and fermented with native yeast 

Aging: The wine ages for 6-8 months in large, neutral oak barrel

Fining or Filtering: No filtering 

Sulfur: None added 

Notes from the Importer: The Mission vines are 120+ years old (some have speculated older), while there is a 150+ year old Mother Vine that anchors the property. The vineyard goes up a gentle slope on the back of the estate. Harvest usually starts in mid September, but can last over a month. It’s destemmed by hand, massaging bunches over a kind of wooden zaranda. The grapes are then crushed by foot and transferred to plastic drums and one 450 liter concrete egg for fermentation and maceration. After native yeast fermentation, which takes about 2 – 3 weeks, the grapes are   pressed off with a small, wooden, 55L, hand crank basket press and racked into to neutral, 225 L oak for 6-8 months. Before bottling, the wine is transferred to glass carboys. Everything is racked and nothing is filtered or fined. The entire bottling process, down to labeling, is done by hand. No sulphur is added at any time.