Matthew di Costanza is from a new generation, with an upbringing that straddled the new world and the old — he grew up in the Bay Area but spent summers in Italy with family. He... Read More

Matthew di Costanza is from a new generation, with an upbringing that straddled the new world and the old — he grew up in the Bay Area but spent summers in Italy with family. He even worked as the day to day winemaker at Screaming Eagle for two years. And yet, he looks to the best international wines and the classic American bottlings of the ""Golden Age"" (and modern-day producers like Cathy Corison or Randy Dunn) to help him imagine what is possible. Like the greatest international wines, his do not lack for elegance, freshness or stoney minerality. But they also have plenty of California's signature notes in perfect balance: delicious fruit that goes on for miles, perfect tannins.

The wines are studies in terroir, farmed sustainably (DI CO) or organically (Farella Vineyard), made with minimal interventions and only a touch of sulfur at bottling. They ferment in stainless steel and age in a mix of oaks, but they all come across as pure Cabernet without any makeup at all. The single vineyard wines are incredibly precise expressions of site, whether from volcanic soils (Farella) or softly sloping woodlands (DI CO).