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Vinca Minor

Mendocino Red 2020

Price: $25.95
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Tasting notes

This is Mendocino old-vine Carignan at its most honest: tart red cherry, pomegranate, and dried herb character with crisp acidity and almost no tannin grip. The Valdiguie adds a fresh berry and floral note that keeps the wine light and lively rather than jammy.

BodyFruitTanninAcidity
CherryPomegranateDried HerbsWildflowers
  • Style: Light-bodied red blend; Carignan and Valdiguie; tart red fruit and dried herbs; 13% ABV; serve chilled
  • Grapes & Terroir: Carignan and Valdiguie; certified organic; dry-farmed old vines (80-120 years); Pinole Gravelly Loam; Redwood Valley, Mendocino County
  • Winemaking: Native yeast fermentation; open-top fermenters; neutral French oak aging; unfined and unfiltered; racked once before bottling
  • Serving: Serve at 58-60F; slight chill recommended; no decanting needed
  • Pairing: Charcuterie, grilled salmon, roast chicken, tomato-based pasta, Manchego, young Pecorino
  • Similar To: For fans of Gamay and light-bodied Cinsault who want California old-vine character

Vinca Minor's Mendocino Red is a blend of Carignan and Valdiguie sourced from certified organic, dry-farmed, old-vine vineyards in Mendocino County. The Carignan comes from Hawkeye Ranch in Redwood Valley, where head-trained vines ranging from 80 to 120 years old grow in Pinole Gravelly Loam soils at around 800 feet elevation. The grower, Pete Johnson, is a sixth-generation farmer who has farmed organically from the start.

Winemaker Jason Charles ferments with native yeast in open-top fermenters and bottles the wine unfined and unfiltered. In keeping with his approach across all Vinca Minor reds, the wine is racked only once before bottling and sees neutral French oak for aging. The result is a light-to-medium-bodied red built for the table rather than the cellar.

The palate leans toward tart red cherry, pomegranate, and dried herbs, with the Carignan providing bright acidity and low tannins and the Valdiguie adding fresh berry character and a slight floral lift. This is a wine meant to be served with a slight chill, around 58 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit.

Serve slightly chilled alongside charcuterie, grilled salmon, or a simple roast chicken. The bright acidity and low tannins also make it a natural match for dishes with tomato-based sauces, such as pasta with pomodoro or braised lentils. It holds up well to mild aged cheeses like Manchego or young Pecorino.

Wine details

Dry/Sweet:, Dry
Wine Type:, Red Wine
Wine Style:, Light Body
Grapes:, Carignan, Valdiguie
Farming:, Organic
Vintage:, 2020
Alcohol:, 13%
Country:, USA
Region:, Mendocino
Appellation:, Mendocino County
Bottle Size:, 750ml
Sugar Level:, Zero Added Sugar

We will process and ship your order in 2-3 business days, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with tracking as soon as the Carrier scans the shipping label.

Ground shipping time depends on location, here's a breakdown:

West Coast: 1-2 business days
Midwest: 3-4 business days
East Coast: 5 business days

Process time is not shipping time. Shipping time starts from the days successive to the day of shipping, after the order has been processed.

See here our shipping policy.


Important Compliance Requirements

FedEx and other carriers we might occasionally use can only deliver wine to customers who are 21 years or older. Someone must be at the address to receive the package, carriers don't just drop a package and leave. They must ensure the person receiving the wine is 21 or older.


Re-shipping a Package

If a package is returned to us after three failed delivery attempts, we can only re-ship the wine upon payment of a re-shipping fee, to be determined based on the shipping address and number of bottles. Shipping wine is extremely expensive. We are sorry about this, but we have no other choice. Please make sure there's always someone at the address you enter as your shipping address.

If you'd like to receive a refund for a package that was returned to us after FedEx made three delivery attempts, we can do that but we must keep a $20 refund fee; FedEx charges us a lot of money for returns, unfortunately, I can't stress this enough.


Re-routing a Package

If you'd like to reroute a package after it's been shipped, we can do so for a $20 re-routing fee. We cannot re-route a package across state borders. For any change of address, please contact us as soon as possible, ideally within 1-2 days from placing the order or we cannot guarantee we'll be able to reroute or change your order's shipping address.


Canceling an Order

If you'd like to cancel an order after it's been shipped, we can do so upon payment of a small cancellation fee – the amount depends on the size of the order. Carriers charge us a lot of money to recall a package en-route.


Heat/Frost damage

We are not responsible for heat- or frost-related issues. We offer ice-packs upon request. Please let us know if you think that there could be heat-related issues. If we don't hear anything from you regarding weather issues before an order is shipped, or if you don't request a hold due to the weather, we are not responsible for heat/frost damage.


Placed an order. What next?

1. You will receive an order confirmation email with your order summary.*

2. As soon as your order ships from the warehouse, usually within 2-3 business days, this applies to all shipping rates, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with your tracking information. 2DAY shipping refers to shipping time; we still need 2-3 business days to prepare an order. We need to pick and pack, QA, add printed collateral, and palletize the orders.

3. Please track your package using the tracking service.

4. The carrier will attempt delivery a maximum of 3 times. After 3 delivery attempts, your package will be sent back to our warehouse.**

*Please ensure your email address is correct; otherwise, you will not receive the order and shipping confirmation emails.

**If delivery is attempted 3 times without success, or if you fail to retrieve your package from the carrier depot by the stated deadline, the shipping fee will not be refunded to the customer.

Returns Policy

If you are not satisfied with your purchase, please contact us at (424) 414-2040 or via e-mail at hello@primalwine.com between 9 am and 5 pm Pacific Standard Time, Monday through Sunday, we would like to understand and try to solve your concerns. We can offer refunds only as store credit.

Producer profile

Vinca Minor

Jason Charles founded Vinca Minor in 2013, operating out of Berkeley, California. His path to winemaking ran through photojournalism in Spain and Mexico, waiting tables in Manhattan restaurants where he encountered serious wine, a harvest internship in Northern California, cellar work in Napa Valley, and training at Chateau Haut Goujon in Lalande de Pomerol in Bordeaux.

Vinca Minor does not own vineyards. Charles works with a small group of long-established growers in Mendocino and Sonoma. For the Mendocino Carignan program, he sources from Pete Johnson, a sixth-generation grape grower in Redwood Valley who has farmed certified organic from the beginning. The old-vine Carignan blocks at Hawkeye Ranch range from 80 to 120 years old and are dry-farmed and head-trained.

Charles ferments with indigenous yeast in open-top fermenters, racks once, and bottles without fining or filtration. Wines are aged in neutral French oak. His stated goal across all labels is to make energetic, bright, fresh reds that reflect the character of the vineyard and the grower rather than the cellar.

Wine region

Mendocino, USA

Mendocino County sits in Northern California roughly 100 miles north of San Francisco and contains eight distinct sub-AVAs. Redwood Valley, in the northern portion of the county, sits at elevations ranging from 400 to 900 feet and benefits from a gap in the coastal ridge that channels cool Pacific air into the valley each afternoon. This diurnal temperature swing slows ripening and helps grapes retain natural acidity. The valley's red, iron-rich, free-draining soils with Pinole Gravelly Loam profiles are especially well-suited to old-vine Carignan and other Mediterranean varieties.

Mendocino is one of California's most organically farmed wine counties, with roughly a quarter of all vineyard acreage certified organic. The county's key red varieties include Carignan, Zinfandel, Petite Sirah, and Valdiguie, many of which survive as head-trained, dry-farmed old vines planted by Italian immigrant families in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Redwood Valley holds some of the oldest surviving vineyard blocks in the county.

Frequently asked question

We will process and ship your order in 2-3 business days, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with tracking as soon as the Carrier scans the shipping label.

Ground shipping time depends on location, here's a breakdown:

West Coast: 1-2 business days
Midwest: 3-4 business days
East Coast: 5 business days

Process time is not shipping time. Shipping time starts from the days successive to the day of shipping, after the order has been processed.

See here our shipping policy.

Signature on delivery is mandatory for wine deliveries. Please make sure someone is at the shipping address to sign for the package.

If applicable, please consider delivering the package to a business address to ensure someone is available to sign for the package.

We also have the option of delivering the package to a Carrier's store for pickup. Please reach out to us to coordinate.

Carrier will try to delivery a package up to three times before returning the package to us.

See here our shipping policy.

If you miss a delivery and a package gets returned to us we have two options:

1) Reship the package right away: due to the very high cost of shipping and returns, we must charge a re-shipping fee to be determined based on package size and shipping destination.

2) Consolidate the returned package with your next order: this option is free of charge and it's the most popular option.

See here our shipping policy.

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