Carignan, Railsback Frères

Notes of strawberries, cranberries, and baking spices, with herbaceous flavors of umami and sandalwood.

Inspired by the Southern French reds of sommelier cult producer, Maxime Magnon, and Cru Beaujolais from the Gang of Four, Railsback's Carignan is made with partial carbonic maceration, making for a juicy-fruited, crushable red that we like to serve chilled or at cellar temperature. Sourced from the Camp Four vineyard, they picked Carignan on three dates, all at between 20.7 and 22.2 brix for a light-bodied and low alcohol, easy-drinking fresh red.

Railsback Frères began as a rosé project in 2014 by brothers Lyle and Eric Railsback, who call their rosé “Les Rascasses” (scorpion fish in French) as an homage to Lulu Peyraud. Lulu was the proprietress of Domaine Tempier in Bandol, maker of their favorite rosé in Provence. Lyle did National Sales for French importer Kermit Lynch for twelve years before leaving to focus on the Santa Ynez project. His brother Eric started Lieu Dit wines in Santa Barbara, inspired by wines of the Loire valley, and owns Verve Wine in NYC, Chicago and San Francisco.