The short answer: Gomes Vineyard is an Albariño vineyard on Andrus Island in the Sacramento River Delta. It’s dry-farmed, transitioning to organic, and it’s where every bottle of our Octopus sparkling Albariño comes from. We’ve made sparkling wine from it since our first vintage in 2017.
An island in the middle of California
I like to say the vineyard is on an island in the middle of California, which is funny, because there’s no ocean or big lake in the middle of California. It’s in the Delta, a big river system, and one of the islands there is called Andrus Island. That’s where the vineyard is.
Being on an island means the water table is right there. There’s plenty of moisture in the soil, so we’re able to dry-farm the vineyard. That’s nice in California, because we’re generally a desert state. We farm it without irrigation, and the vineyard is transitioning to organic.
Who planted it
The vineyard was planted in the 1990s by Markus Bokisch, a well-known grower in the Sacramento area and a big champion of Albariño and other Spanish grapes in California. He brought a suitcase clone of Albariño over from Spain and planted this vineyard to it.
Jacqueline, my partner and the other winemaker at Carboniste, was making still Albariño from Gomes Vineyard as early as 2012. When she brought that wine home, it’s a big part of what convinced me that Albariño was the right grape to start with. That story is here.
Appearances can be deceiving
It’s a fairly vigorous, fairly warm site. The vines don’t struggle much, and that’s okay. Quality viticulture is all about matching the temperament of the grape to the site. Albariño is a vigorous variety, so it does well on a vigorous site. The vines get big and bushy and keep growing all season.
The first time I visited, I was very critical. I got there and thought, holy cow, this is too much vine. Too big, too much water, overgrown. There’s no way the wine is going to be balanced.
Then I made the wine, and the wine was great. That was a real lesson for me: great wines can come from vineyards that don’t immediately look great. Appearances can be deceiving.
Sunshine by day, a delta breeze at night
The vines get a lot of sunshine. At night, the delta breeze rolls in and cools everything off, and because the vineyard is on an island, it’s significantly cooler there than in the Sacramento lowlands around it.
Gomes isn’t special for sparkling wine so much as it’s perfectly suited to Albariño. And Albariño, picked early, makes a great sparkling wine.
Harvest at Gomes
Gomes is one of the first vineyards we pick every year. To me, harvest really is being out in that vineyard first thing in the morning, when it’s still cold, even though it’s summer. You stand in the rows and taste a grape, and it pops and surges in your mouth.
That first taste of grape juice is a special memory and a special place to be. That zip and pop is truly what we’re trying to make for you. I want the grape to pop in your mouth when you drink our wine. That’s why I always say I want our wines to taste like grapes.
Visiting the Delta
The Delta is a really beautiful place. You drive along the top of the levees with the river right beside you, past a lot of agriculture. It’s a fruitful, energetic part of California, and very few people live out there. If you like boating, the boating is good, too.
Who the Octopus is for
Everybody. The Octopus is the wine that really drew people to Carboniste. It’s usually the first Carboniste wine people try, because it’s our largest-volume and most widely available wine.
The one thing to remember: appearances can be deceiving. What looks like an uninteresting spot on the map can produce some really fantastic wine.
Quick answers
Where is Gomes Vineyard? On Andrus Island in the Sacramento River Delta, in Northern California.
What grows at Gomes Vineyard? Albariño. Our Octopus sparkling Albariño is made entirely from it.
Is Gomes Vineyard dry-farmed? Yes. The island’s high water table lets the vines grow without irrigation, and the vineyard is transitioning to organic.
Who planted Gomes Vineyard? Markus Bokisch, the California Albariño pioneer, in the 1990s, using an Albariño clone he brought from Spain.