MAHA Wine Info

MAHA: A higher place

While our Villa Creek wines represent a few different places, MAHA represents one; the place that we raised our kids, built our winery and planted our vineyard. When we first laid eyes on this estate in 2003, we knew it was destined for greatness. Our best barrels from MAHA Estate grapes are reserved for the MAHA branded wines.

Red wines.

Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre, Carignan and Petite Sirah grow on the MAHA. The words feminine and masculine are often used to describe certain grape varieties or wines. Our initial red wine blends were designed to tip the scales slightly in one direction with a Grenache based wine and the other with a Petite Sirah based wine. We aim to continue this tradition while allowing the vintage to dictate the final outcome of the blends.

White wines.

Clairette and Roussanne are the two white grapes we chose to grow on the MAHA. As one  of our favorite Rhone white grapes Clairette had not been readily planted in California. We planted Clairette in 2013 and our first MAHA branded release which debuted with the 2017 vintage, is stunning. Beautiful aromatics and a medium bodied mouth feel make it comparable to Roussanne with it’s own unique flavor profile. Our experience working with Roussanne from James Berry Vineyard inspired us to graft an acre of our vineyard to this grape and we are anxiously awaiting the arrival of the first grapes with the 2021 harvest. Both Clairette and Roussanne age beautifully.

Winemaking

As with the Villa Creek wines, we let the grapes do the work as we facilitate optimal fermentation conditions. All clusters and grapes are hand picked and double sorted by hand on our vibrating sorting tables. Our winery is a Demeter BIODYNAMIC® certified facility. As BIODYNAMIC® standards allow for minimal sulfur use and organic yeasts, these are used only when required, not as common practice. Our preference is always to allow the our unique native yeasts the opportunity to flourish.