Corinne Rich and Katie Rouse met while working harvest in South Africa, fell for each other and decided upon their return that they would start a life and winery together. They honed their crafts as assistant winemakers at Scribe and Bedrock and when they felt ready, struck out on their own. They chose the name Birdhorse to signify that the wine inside the bottle was both unexpected and familiar.

In service of that concept, they avoided working with international varieties, instead focusing on sourcing esoteric grapes better suited to our warm climate. When choosing vineyard partners, framing practices are paramount and only work with organic and sustainably grown fruit. An example of this is the CCOF-certified Borden Ranch of Lodi, in the shadows of the Sierra Mountains. This is where they source their grapes for what has to be the most buzzed about Cali white; their Verdelho.

Because they are tight with their growers they get to call the shots on pick time thus ensuring the fruit is exactly at the level of ripeness they need to procure the wines they envision. Working with only native yeast for fermentation and neutral oak for aging the goal is to both honestly represent each variety as well as highlighting the terroir they came from. In order to keep them as transparent as possible, the wines are bottled without fining or filtering and only animal amounts of sulfur.

The results are wines that are precise and elegant while, like the women that make them, gregarious and joyful. They are so pleasurable to drink, and while they are made with little intervention they are very much intentional. Each one balances its texture, acidity, aromas and flavors so deftly that you think the two had been at it for decades. I can't say enough good things about these wines and the women that make them.

What importer Skurnik Wines has to say about this wine...

100% Valdiguie
Back Road Vineyard (Suisun Valley AVA)
Planted in early 1990s
Clay loam soil
Native yeast fermentation
3 separate fermentations (100% whole cluster stainless steel/40% whole cluster stainless/fully destemmed bag to neutral barrel)
Lots racked and blended after 5 months
14% abv