CARBONISTE Release Party · Saturday, May 30 · Sonoma, CA
Six wines. One public debut. An unreasonable charcuterie table.
On May 30, we're opening the winery for an afternoon of six California wines, a charcuterie table that has been known to get out of hand, and the first public pour of the Clown Fish — a still Chenin Blanc two years in the making. 1–4 PM · Sonoma · 200 spots.
Club members: complimentary RSVP, applied automatically at checkout.
You'll taste through six California wines. Each with their own personality.
Four sparkling, two still — including one we've never poured before.
Clown Fish
Still Chenin blanc · World debut, first public pour
The Clown Fish is our brand new still wine — A pét nat that refused to make bubbles. After two years on the lees, the Clown Fish is a still Chenin Blanc — bright acidity up front, mineral salinity in the middle, the kind of creamy texture two years of unhurried aging actually looks like in a glass.
The Octopus
Sparkling Albariño · the flagship
The Octopus is 100% sparkling Albariño — stainless steel, no intervention, bright as California gets. Pops in your mouth like biting into a fresh grape. The wine that started Carboniste.
The Whale
Sparkling Chardonnay · the richer one
The Whale is California Chardonnay with bubbles — round, unctuous, with what our winemaker calls a 1% Rombauer DNA. If you know California Chardonnay, you'll recognize it immediately. Not a Blanc de Blancs.
The Crab
Sparkling Orange · skin-contact
The Crab is a sparkling Orange wine that behaves like a red and smells like a white. Skin-contact Albariño + Pinot Gris, ten days on skins. Starts all elbows. Opens into something brilliant. Pairs with anything fried, spicy, or bold.
La Vida Bella
Reserve Brut · 96 pts, Jeb Dunnuck
La Vida Bella is our reserve sparkling — méthode traditionnelle, hand-disgorged, no shortcuts. The grown-up in the room. Less than 100 cases made. Jeb Dunnuck gave it 96 points.
Passe-Tout-Grains
Still chillable red · Pinot Noir, Gamay, Primitivo
Passe-Tout-Grains is a still red blend you chill before pouring. The unpretentious house wine you always wanted to exist. Chill it. Drink it. Repeat.
The table
Irreverent, overflowing, and full of surprises.
There will be a charcuterie spread that has absolutely no chill. We're not talking a polite arrangement of crackers. We mean something irreverent, overflowing, and full of surprises — the kind of table that makes you stop mid-sentence and take a photo.
Wine this good deserves a table to match.
"Pretty and deliciously textured."
A single-vineyard bottling, in a brighter, more fruitful style — faint pink, with just a perception of fruit sweetness.
— Jeb Dunnuck · 2021 Brut Zero La Vida Bella Vineyard
Why this is worth the drive
Six wines. Zero overlap.
Sparkling Albariño that pops, sparkling Chardonnay with weight, a sparkling Orange that pairs with fried chicken, a 96-point Brut, a chillable still red, and the Clown Fish making its public debut. You won't taste a lineup like this anywhere else this year.
The first pour of the Clown Fish — anywhere.
Our first still white wine has never left the winery. May 30 is the first afternoon anyone outside the cellar gets to try it. There is no second debut.
Poured by the people who made them.
Hand-disgorged in Sonoma. No middleman, no script. The winemaker is the one filling your glass and explaining why the Crab tastes like that.
Saturday, May 30 · 1–4 PM
CARBONISTE Winery
21684 8th Street East, Suite 300
Sonoma, CA 95476
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