CARICA WINES

WELCOME TO CARICA WINES! Critically-acclaimed, single-vineyard wines. Hand-crafted in California. Since its founding in 2005, Carica Wines has been making wine of extraordinary character from small lots of premium grapes.

Gold Medal for Carica Chardonnay--Yay!

Nice to get accolades …But some folks already know they love the latest crisp, citrusy white wine from Carica Wines, right?

Hand-crafted, with minimal intervention by Carica’s founding winemaker, this modern Chardonnay is very lightly oaked: after fermentation to dryness in a stainless steel tank, just a quarter of the wine was aged in new French oak. Combined at bottling, the whole small batch made just 178 cases.

Yes, you can get Gold Medal* Carica Chardonnay 2022 into your glass, refrigerator, and cellar: Just head over to www.CaricaWines.com/Shop or visit the Tasting Room at Riggers Loft.

*San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition, 2024, Largest competition of North American Wines.

New Release, August 2023

Grenache 2019, Jemrose Vineyard, Bennett Valley, Sonoma County

Imagine a field scented with sage, thyme, and lavender. The aroma of this bright but balanced, medium-bodied red Grenache might transport you there.  In the glass, taste plum and cherry, finishing with warm spice notes.

 Pour this Grenache on its own. Then enjoy it with full-flavored fare, including chicken braised with olives and tomatoes, paprika-spiked fries, and oven roasted vegetables. Its versatility means you can enjoy it with everything from a casual midweek supper to a groaning board feast of Thanksgiving.

 Winemaking & Vineyard Notes

 Following the cool—some might say fickle--spring of 2019 in Northern California, a small but intense lot of Grenache clusters slowly matured at sustainably farmed Jemrose Vineyard. The grapes were picked by hand on October 1, 2019, all from a single vineyard in Sonoma County’s Bennett Valley, renowned as a cool climate viticultural area producing premium Rhône varieties, including Syrah and Grenache.   Once hand-sorted and crushed, the fruit was fermented to dryness with natural yeast in open-topped vessels.  The wine was aged 21 months in neutral French oak. Bottled August 2021.

39 cases made. $39/bottle

New Release--Chardonnay 2022

Winemaker Charlie Dollbaum is delighted to announce the release of Carica Wines’ first-ever Chardonnay. “This is a modern white wine, made with a light hand. I fermented the grapes to dryness in a relatively small stainless steel tank, then aged approximately a quarter of the wine in new French oak barrels. At bottling, we combined both the barrel-aged wine and tank-aged wine. “

Chardonnay grapes were harvested by hand in September 2022 from a well-tended vineyard in nearby Solano County. The lightly oaked wine offers characteristic aromas of pear blossom. In the mouth, you’ll find the wine crisp, with flavors of green apple, star fruit, Meyer lemon, and crackers.

Enjoy this lower-alcohol (13.3%ABV) wine chilled, with seafood salad, grilled salmon, or something rich like chicken potpie or fettuccini Alfredo.

178 cases made. $35/bottle

New Release: Mourvèdre 2018 | Clements Hills

Distinctive and deliberate, this medium bodied Mourvèdre delights with dried cranberry, dark plum, dusty minerality and Herbs De Provence on the nose and mid-palate. Mild acidity nicely balances soft tannins carrying accents of black olive, smoky meats, and cracked pepper through to the finish.

Pairs well with barbeque, smoked Gouda, Cheddar and Manchego cheeses, pasta dishes, and assorted lean meats. Drink now through 2028.

Double Gold Winner!

2014 “Siren” Red Blend | Bennett Valley, Sonoma County

Carica Wines is delighted to announce that the “Siren” Rhône-style Red Blend has just garnered a Double Gold medal in the 2021 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition. Newly released in February 2021, the California version of a classic old world marriage of Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvèdre, is available at the present moment exclusively from the winery.

According to winemaker Charlie Dollbaum, the 2014 vintage of one of Carica Wines’s most popular offerings “is velvety in the mouth, with characteristic fruit flavor and plenty of character.”

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Summer2020