DIURNAL DREAM - 2021

 DIURNAL DREAM 2021 is Malbec from the high desert of Los Angeles (though we don’t list the variety on the label), where conditions are extreme and lead to intensely flavored wine. We picked this wine while low in sugar yet puckered from the heat, let it ferment naturally, and held the wine in neutral barrels for over 18 months. The result is a mature, beautiful wine with amazing freshness and vigor.

If you hang around wine nerds (like me) long enough, you’ll hear the term “diurnal shift.” This refers to the difference between the daytime high temperature and the nighttime low temp. In the high desert, the temperature swings widely from day to night – often 40 degrees F or more from just before dawn to just after noon. This extreme shift in temperatures is thought to help retain vivacity and acidity in the grapes while they mature in an otherwise hot climate (that would, without that shift, lead to tired and low-acid wines). Diurnal is also the opposite of Nocturnal, so this Diurnal Dream can be seen as the Yang to the Yin of Noctilucence.

A note on the vineyard: We worked with this vineyard because it is one of the closest vineyards to our winery, and because the only non-organic substance they used was a fertilizer in their drip irrigation. Otherwise they didn't spray anything in the vineyard (because the high desert climate makes it unnecessary). This was an ecological choice, and we think the impact on our environment was much less than driving to organic vineyards several hours away that spray regularly.