Wonderwerk Free Your Soul 2020

Free Your Soul is a co-fermentation of 67% Mission from Somer's Vineyard and 33% Petite Sirah from Jag's Vineyard, both in the Mokelumne River AVA, Lodi, California. Alcohol is 12.5% ABV. The Mission grape — California's first cultivated vinifera variety, brought north by Franciscan missionaries in 1769 — is naturally low in acid and color, with bountiful yields that resist concentration. The Petite Sirah blending fraction is a practical solution: it contributes structure, extract, and yeast nutrients without requiring acid additions or commercial yeast nutrient supplements.

Petite Sirah was harvested September 9 at 21.5° Brix and loaded as whole clusters into an open-top fermentor. Mission followed two days later on September 11 at 20.4° Brix, de-stemmed and added on top. Cap management relied on vigorous foot-treading and soft punch-downs. The wine was pressed to neutral French oak barriques as soon as tannin pickup from the Petite Sirah gained traction, then aged six months in barrel.

Somer's Vineyard sits along a bend of the Mokelumne River, with deep Tokay series sandy loam soils. The vines are tall, cordon-trained, and approximately 50 years old, with roots that reach the water table. The wine was bottled unfined and unfiltered with 15 ppm sulfur (KMBS) added at bottling.