SEMINA CORTESE ‘SKIN CONTACT’

2025 GRAPES: CORTESE (75%), ARNEIS (25%) SKIN CONTACT: 3–7 DAYS REGION: MENDOCINO, CALIFORNIA, USA Producer: Semina is a small Berkeley project devoted to Italian grape varieties grown in cool corners of the West Coast. The fruit for this wine comes from the certified-organic Fox Hill Vineyard on the Talmage Bench in Mendocino, a benchland above the Russian River whose warm days and cool nights echo Piedmont — the spiritual home of these grapes. Everything is hand-harvested and made with patience and a gentle touch. Vinification: 75% Cortese and 25% Arneis, hand-picked on an early August morning and carried to the cellar as whole clusters. The Arneis is lightly foot-tread and left on its skins for seven days; the Cortese gets a shorter three-day maceration to keep it lifted. Each is pressed separately — the Arneis to neutral French oak, the Cortese to stainless steel — where they finish fermenting and rest about six months. Just 280 cases made. Tasting notes: light-bodied, lemon pith, green almond, white blossom, with a saline lift and the gentlest skin grip Pairing: linguine alle vongole DRINK: NOW TO 2028 ORGANIC