Rancho Coda Gamay Noir
⏳ Drinking Window
2023 - 2028
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
Roasted duck, charcuterie board, grilled salmon
✨ Technical Specifications
Pax Mahle's exploration of Gamay Noir in California has been instrumental in reviving interest in this classic Beaujolais variety. Sourced from the high-altitude Rancho Coda Vineyard, perched at over 1,100 feet in the Russian River Valley, this wine benefits from cool coastal breezes and dramatic diurnal temperature shifts. The vineyard's unique soils and elevation allow the Gamay grapes to ripen slowly, retaining their signature high acidity and bright red fruit profile. Pax employs traditional carbonic maceration and whole-cluster fermentation, aging the wine in neutral French oak and concrete to preserve its vibrant, energetic character. This approach yields a wine that pays homage to the crus of Beaujolais while expressing a distinct Sonoma terroir.
🍾 About the Producer
Established in 2000 by Pax and Pam Mahle, Pax Wines emerged as an influential champion of cool-climate California viticulture, initially earning renown for single-vineyard expressions of Syrah. Operating out of an urban winery and tasting cellar in Sebastopol's Barlow district, the domaine collaborates closely with growers across coastal Sonoma County, Mendocino, and the Sierra Foothills. Viticulture centers on organically and sustainably farmed heritage plots, frequently anchored in fractured shale, marine sandstone, and decomposed granite. While early vintages leaned rich and assertive, Pax evolved toward an uncompromising low-intervention ethos characterized by whole-cluster foot stomping, spontaneous fermentations driven by ambient yeasts, neutral French oak aging, and minimal sulfur. Beyond benchmark Syrah bottlings such as Alder Springs, Griffin's Lair, and Castelli-Knight Ranch, the portfolio explores esoteric and heritage white varieties, notably old-vine Chenin Blanc, Vermentino, and Pinot Blanc, celebrated for their tensile acidity, savory transparency, and mineral cut.
🍇 Grapes
Gamay Noir
🍷 ABV
12-13%