Inspired by family legends and travels to Italy, Carlo Besio planted the acre surrounding his Portola Valley home to a mix of mostly Northern Italian vines. Using simple equipment and methods his ancestors would know, Carlo made wines to share at his own table. His vineyard was tended by hand and by family from 1980 until his passing in 2016. Today, Besio Vineyard is farmed to organic standards by Rhizos Viticulture – under the ever-watchful eye of Jane Besio, who still resides on the property.

Portola Valley lies on the eastern slope of the Santa Cruz Mountains, 500 feet above San Francisco Bay. The vineyard’s soils consist of Pleistocene sedments (silt, sand, gravel and clay) overlying Franciscan Complex greenstone. Head-trained vines are divided into four blocks interspersed with fruit trees and honeybee hives, surrounded by a forest of coast redwood, oak and Douglas fir. Ten miles from the ocean, vineyard benefits from a cool, coastal climate, though compared to the AVA’s western slope, it retains more warmth overnight: perfect for bringing thick-skinned Italian fruit to phenolic ripeness while keeping sugar and acid levels in the zone for a fresh, balanced wine.

Portola Valley lies on the eastern slope of the Santa Cruz Mountains, 500 feet above San Francisco Bay. The vineyard’s soils consist of Pleistocene sedments (silt, sand, gravel and clay) overlying Franciscan Complex greenstone. Head-trained vines are divided into four blocks interspersed with fruit trees and honeybee hives, surrounded by a forest of coast redwood, oak and Douglas fir. Ten miles from the ocean, vineyard benefits from a cool, coastal climate, though compared to the AVA’s western slope, it retains more warmth overnight: perfect for bringing thick-skinned Italian fruit to phenolic ripeness while keeping sugar and acid levels in the zone for a fresh, balanced wine.

Fruit was hand-harvested at dawn on October 12th. No effort to sort the lot by varietal was made: 100% of the clusters were destemmed, cold soaked overnight and foot-treaded the following morning. For the next several days the fermenter was moved outdoors into direct sunlight to warm the must and promote native yeast fermentation. A cap formed by Day 3, at which point the tank was moved to a cool spot in the winery and given gentle punch downs as needed until primary fermentation complete on October 24th.

After 36 hours of extended maceration, free run was racked away and the remaining must was bladder-pressed to 1.1 bar. All the resulting wine was combined to tank, blanketed with CO2 and left to settle in the cellar. On November 3rd the tank was gravity-racked to two neutral French oak barrels and a stainless steel keg. Malolactic fermentation occurred naturally and was complete by mid-February. The finished wine was bottled without fining or filtration September 9, 2024.

Site Planted: 1980
Soils: Silt, sand, gravel, clay

Varieties: Sangiovese, dolcetto,
refosco, pinot noir & syrah

Farming: Organic (non-certified)
Production: 550 L
Method: Co-fermentation
Yeasts: Wild, native
Élevage: 11 months
Cooperage: Neutral French oak

Brix @ harvest: 21.0°
pH: 3.40; TA: 5.7 g/L

RS: >1.3 g/L
VA: 0.58 g/L
SO2: 0.02 g/L (11.4 ppm free)
ABV: 11.6%

A word on sulfites & interventions: This wine is the product of native yeast fermentation and other spontaneous natural processes. By necessity, these were directed in the winery via temperature, atmosphere, time, and minimum-effective additions that resulted in 0.0114 grams of unbound sulphur dioxide per liter of finished wine. The approach is less about arbitrary notions of naturalness and more about providing an environment where the vinification can be driven by what came in from the vineyard. In my experience, the better indicator of quality isn’t whether a particular winemaking intervention took place, but whether the decision to intervene resulted in a lesser or greater expression of terroir.