Two Shepherds Trousseau Gris Russian River Valley 2022

Sonoma County, California’s Two Shepherds was started by one shepherd, our friend William Allen, in 2010, when he decided to make the leap from small-batch hobby winemaking in his garage to a full-time commercial operation in a real cellar. Five short years later, he’d grow from a 175-case annual production to more than 1,000 cases a year, expand his focus on Rhône grapes only to include all sorts of less-common west coast varieties, and be joined by shepherd number two, his partner Karen Daenen (along with two Australian shepherds, two cats, four goats and three mini-Sicilian donkeys). Today, they lease several micro-sized organic vineyard plots--some just a few rows-worth--and manage a small estate vineyard from which they hand harvest, foot stomp and ferment memorable, textural, French-inspired wines with native yeast and no additions save for a scant amount of sulfur. This bright copper-colored may be their most unique bottling to date: Made from the only known California planting of trousseau gris, a super rare variety native to France’s Jura region, it’s an unfined and unfiltered, juicy and somewhat savory expression that exudes flavors of under-ripe apricot, white nectarine and white tea. Organically grown, low-intervention/natural wine.