Review: Farmhouse 2017 White Wine and 2016 Red Wine
Sonoma’s Cline family is stretching its way into natural wines with the release of Farmhouse, a new label of inexpensive blends, one red, one white. While the wines are named and labeled in honor of a Petaluma farmhouse called Green String, where clean farming techniques are taught to Cline’s “interns,” the grapes used in the wine come from all over the state of California. Cline says the wines are made with “clean” standards, which means they are grown without chemicals (though the label does not indicate the grapes are organic). Varietal information is not disclosed.
Let’s taste both varieties.
2017 Farmhouse White Wine California – Bold grapefruit notes up front, fading to a sweeter, fruitier note — tropical, with some floral and apricot/peachy notes. Not a lot of complexity here, but it’s got plenty of structure to help it stand up to food. Very lengthy, flowery finish. B+ / $15
2016 Farmhouse Red Wine California – Unspecified red grapes, with only a California appellation designation. Fruit heavy, with big, sweet, red berries, some vanilla and simple syrup to give it sweetness. Sugar lingers on the finish for ages, Very simple, but mercifully lacking the barnyard notes typically associated with natural wines. B / $15
2016 Farmhouse Red Wine California
$15
