Charbono 2021 - 750ml

Red raspberry and mixed berry jelly aromas leap from this bright and fruit-focused Charbono. The medium body is framed with a tangy liveliness that’s balanced by lower alcohol. Berry flavors linger in a long finish with very soft and gentle tannin.

Opaque and dark purple-red in appearance, Charbono is an amazingly light and lively wine. The aromatics and flavors burst across the palate carried by delicious natural tangy acidity. The body is medium in weight due to the lower alcohol content, tannins super-fine and texture very soft. This is one of the few examples of varietal Charbono – use it to kindle your culinary imagination.

Charbono is one of the lost grape varieties – almost. Recent reports indicate there are only about 80 acres of this variety in California. The original cuttings were imported to Calistoga in the Napa Valley from the Savoie region in the French Alps in about 1880. Its original name was Doux Noir, or “soft black,” later called Charbonneau (carbon water). Subsequently, Charbono was wiped out in Europe by the Phylloxera root louse infestation. 

Some believed it to be the Italian grape variety Dolcetto but this was proven not to be the case through genetic testing. After repeal of Prohibition in the U.S., Charbono was used by Inglenook for blending with their new Cask Cabernet wines and small amounts were bottled as varietal wine. I tasted the 1968 Inglenook Charbono from cask in 1969 and was inspired to become a winemaker with that taste.
– Bob Foley