Ruth Lewandowski L. Stone Sangiovese 2020

L. Stone is 100% Sangiovese Grosso grown at Fox Hill Vineyard on the Talmage Bench, an uplifted former riverbed located between Hopland and Ukiah in Mendocino County. The site sits at 650 feet elevation on alluvial, rocky sandy clay loam derived from sandstone, with significant quartz throughout. The vines are approximately 30 years old, trained to unilateral cordon, and farmed organically. Fox Hill was replanted in the late 1980s by owner Lowell Stone, who converted the property from Chardonnay and Riesling to an assortment of Italian varieties sourced from nurseries, friends, and suitcase cuttings. The wine is named in his honor.

Winemaking for the 2020 vintage: whole cluster maceration with 25% of the fruit undergoing an extended maceration of five months. Fermentation proceeds with indigenous yeast, no temperature control, and no fermentation aids. Full native malolactic conversion follows. The wine then ages 10 months in polyethylene Flextanks (egg and cube formats), followed by one year in neutral puncheons. No sulfur is added at any point. The wine is bottled unfined and unfiltered. Total acidity is 6.05 g/L, pH 3.6, ABV 14.4%. Production: 585 cases.

Ruth Lewandowski Wines is the project of Evan Lewandowski, founded in 2012 and named after the Book of Ruth in the Old Testament. Evan trained at Domaine Binner in Alsace and holds a degree in viticulture and enology from the Walla Walla Institute. The winery is now based in Healdsburg, California, where Evan works in close collaboration with Sam Bilbro of Idlewild Wines. Across the entire Ruth Lewandowski range, the cellar approach is the same: indigenous yeast, zero additions, no fining, no filtration.