Scribe : discovering New California
The Scribe Estate was founded by brothers Adam and Andrew Mariani. Coming from a family of walnut farmers in Winters, California (about an hour from Sonoma), the brothers grew up surrounded by nature and agriculture.
Their uncle owned some vineyard land in Carneros, and being immersed in the beautiful California wine country, they developed an early interest in viticulture. In their early twenties, they both left the country to delve deeper into the world of winemaking; Andrew chose to work in various small wineries in Greece, while Adam’s journey took him to the Guigal family in Côte Rotie, then to South Africa where he stayed for several vintages.
Armed with these experiences, they returned to California and purchased an abandoned ranch in the foothills of Arrowhead Mountain, an old volcano at the base of the Mayacamas mountain range. The estate borders Carneros and Napa County but is technically located within the Sonoma Coast AVA. Upon researching the property, they discovered that the 200-acre plot had been owned from 1858 to 1918 by the Dresel brothers, German immigrants who helped introduce the first Riesling and Sylvaner vines to California. The “D&Co” (Dresel & Company) mention on their labels is a nod to this fraternal duo who worked with some of the same grape varieties as the Mariani brothers do today.
In 2007, Andrew and Adam planted vines on the estate, but they wouldn’t produce wine until the 2011 vintage, as the early years of Scribe were dedicated to rehabilitating the ecosystem surrounding the vineyard. They also leased land from their uncle in Carneros, an ideal location for growing Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
To produce balanced and vibrant wines, the entire environment must be healthy. Their dedication in the vineyards is also reflected in their work in the cellar: all fermentations are slow (averaging 3 weeks) and occur spontaneously with native yeasts. The whites undergo gentle pressing to avoid reduction, and all their wines undergo no filtration or fining; they prefer the use of concrete and neutral oak barrels and never overpower their wines with new oak. At bottling, their wines always contain less than 15 ppm of free sulfur, easily categorizing them as natural wines. Each year, they experiment with around 40 different ferments to be constantly learning, always on the lookout for the diverse possibilities that the California terroir can offer them.
Scribe’s wines are part of the New California wines: balance, freshness, and low alcohol content.