McKahn Family Cellars, Carignane, Contra Costa County 2019

Oenophiles are lucky because when we find a varietal we love, there are seemingly endless wines to explore within our preferences. Despite our stylistic penchants, there is no pigeon-holing into one producer or even region. With each opportunity to taste a new version of the grape of our fancy, we dive deeper into the passion of knowing and loving wine. With this hyper-focused notion, Charles McKahn created his wine label, McKahn Family Cellars. He would discover the best vineyards growing Rhône varietals in California and craft wines of intense connection to their distinct terroir from those vineyards. He does not chain himself to specific AVAs or winemaking recipes. Instead, he allows each wine to reach its true potential by selecting only the best-growing partners and tweaking their processes to exacting detail dependent on the conditions of each vineyard.

Charles realized his passion for wine before he was old enough to enjoy it, at 15. His curiosity for viticulture steered him towards Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, where he earned an Enology degree in 2011. Immediately after graduating, Charles joined the esteemed team at Chappellet Winery on Pritchard Hill, where he worked as an assistant winemaker until 2016. Then, at the impressively young age of 26, Charles became the winemaker at William Harrison Winery in Rutherford, all the while maintaining the goal to one day launch a label where he showcased Rhône varietals from California’s vast array of terroirs. With the guidance and support of his family, Charles started McKahn Family Cellars in 2014. And as the story usually goes in Napa, he received a text in 2019 from a friend who knew of a Carignane vineyard with fruit for sale, which was music to Charles’ ears!

Carignane (or Kerrigan as California growers call it) is said to have originated in northern Spain, where the locals refer to it by yet another name: Cariñena or Mazuelo. However, the grape is most famously grown and vinted in the Languedoc region of France, a southwestern neighbor to the Rhône Valley, where it is the most widely planted. Young Carignane vines boast high yields and sometimes triple or quadruple the tonnage of other varietals, such as Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot. These high yields make it a sought-after grape for blending but, unfortunately, also give 100% Carignane wines a bad rap, with the reputation as a varietal bred for quantity, not quality. Despite its shaky status on the world stage of wine, Carignane is making a comeback with small producers focused on old-vine plantings that minimize the yields, packing all the power and flavor into a few bunches of tiny berries.

The fated 2019 text Charles received noted excess fruit from the Sandy Lane Vineyard in Contra Costa County. Aptly named, the property boasts Carignane plantings over 100 years old on pure sand soils, resistant to the Phylloxera louse that began decimating California’s original vine rootstock in the late 1880s. As a result, the Carignane here thrives in the sandy soils of Contra Costa and its warm climate with cool nights that are grape-growing magic. After harvest, the McKahn debut vintage of 2019 Carignane fermented in stainless steel tank. The wine was aged in second-use French oak barrels for 18 months before bottling. This wine could not be more perfect for the Fall season as it exudes tart and ripe red fruits on the nose with a spicy backbone reminiscent of cinnamon and allspice. Lively acidity balances with smooth tannins that round out the palate. Flavors of dried cherries and currants, marjoram and rosemary, and salty prosciutto meld together, bringing forth the memory of holiday feasts. This youthful Carignane has the sturdy structure to match a perfect roast turkey dinner with cranberry sauce and stuffing and the freshness of fruit to award a patiently waiting cook with a glass of wine as the turkey finishes in the oven.