2019 Dirty & Rowdy Family Winery Semillon

Dirty & Rowdy Family Winery is one of the new California “garagiste” winemaking ventures with a 21st century attitude. Its founders are two youthful couples who make small-batch, so-called “natural wines” with lower alcohol content. Their wines are single vineyard bottlings of grapes that fall outside of the usual California Cabernet Sauvignon-and-Chardonnay model. Dirty & Rowdy’s first fame, for instance, has been with Mourvèdre. The winery has also made Sémillion, Melon and Petite Sirah. Grapes are sourced from Santa Barbara to Mendocino County, and the wine is made in a leased space in Santa Rosa. The exuberantly named Dirty & Rowdy was founded in 2010 by Hardy Wallace and Matt Richardson, who have backgrounds in winemaking and blogging about food and wine. In its short history, Dirty & Rowdy has attained a kind of cult status. Though its wines are released at prices far below California’s “Cult Cabs” and other allocation-only wines, Dirty & Rowdy wines nevertheless sell out and earn favorable reviews. In a typical review, Wine Spectator praised one Dirty & Rowdy wine for showing “lots of personality in a restrained style.”

Yountville AVA is just west of Stags Leap and north of Oak Knoll. It is centered around the town of Yountville, named for George Yountville, who planted the area’s first vineyard in 1836. The district received appellation status in 1999 and it includes 4,000 vineyard acres. It is known for tannic Cabernet Sauvignon that has a reputation for aging well. Dominus Estate, formerly Napanook Vineyard, is one of the most prestigious producers in Yountville, and in all of Napa Valley.