2019 OVIS Nero d' Avola High Valley Lake County 750 ml

If you want to see some of California’s most dramatic and exciting new vineyard sites, drive north into Napa Valley… then keep driving. 

When you get to Lake County’s imposing hillside vineyards overlooking sun-dappled waters, you may start to see why this AVA has been turning heads. Big names like Andy Beckstoffer—of To Kalon and George III fame—have made investments there, and Wine Enthusiast said the region “produces some of the most distinctive wines in America.”

Clay Shannon saw that potential decades ago, and bought 2,000 acres of land there—including some of the region’s most coveted vineyard sites. We’re talking wind-swept hills up to 2,200 feet in elevation, so steep that two-man teams must use cables and ropes to get to the grapes in some places. They produce tiny, concentrated berries with huge tannins, particularly in the case of Nero d’Avola, one of the boldest, most full-throttle Italian varieties. 

Sicily is home to 98% of the world’s Nero d’Avola vines, but the 92-point 2019 OVIS shows that this noble grape is right at home on Lake County’s volcanic-soil slopes. Shannon’s Nero d’Avola blocks are planted east-west, shielding vines from afternoon sunlight and preserving fresh acidity. The hillside barely sees rainfall, but because the variety tolerates drought better than Cabernet, it thrives, taking on a dense concentration with notes of anise, wild herbs, dark chocolate, and ground coffee. 

When it hits the cellar, the winery says this grape presents like the dark-fruited, herb-inflected Syrah, but with more natural acidity. They gave it two full years in 40% new oak to let everything harmonize, and the finished product is just as robust and stately as the hills it came from.