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Stagiaire Wine

Scales and Arpeggios 2021

Price: $35.95
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Tasting notes

This is Sangiovese pushed to an extreme: grown at 2,500 feet on marine sedimentary soils in one of the coldest Sangiovese sites in California, producing a wine that is lean, tense, and high-toned rather than plush. The four-week whole-cluster maceration and one year in neutral barrels keeps the focus on the site, delivering bright red fruit and dried herb aromatics with a firm, food-friendly acidity that is rarely seen in California Sangiovese.

BodyFruitTanninAcidity
CherryDried Tea LeavesEarthWildflowers
  • Style: Dry, medium-bodied red; lean and high-toned; organically farmed Sangiovese; Santa Cruz Mountains AVA
  • Grapes & Terroir: 100% Sangiovese; Ascona Vineyard, ~2,500 ft elevation; marine sedimentary sandstone and siltstone soils; organically farmed
  • Winemaking: 100% whole-cluster fermentation; 4-week maceration; 1 year in neutral barrels; unfined, unfiltered, no added SO2
  • Serving: Serve at 60-62F; 20-30 min decant optional; no need to age further
  • Pairing: Tomato-based pasta, roast chicken, grilled lamb, aged hard cheeses, arugula salads
  • Similar To: For fans of cool-climate Italian Sangiovese (Chianti Classico, Morellino) who want a California terroir expression

Scales and Arpeggios is a 100% Sangiovese sourced from the Ascona Vineyard, a high-elevation site sitting at approximately 2,500 feet in the South Skyline sub-region of the Santa Cruz Mountains AVA. The vineyard is farmed organically, with ancient marine sedimentary soils of loosely consolidated sandstone and siltstone. At this altitude, the site perches above the marine layer during the day while fog and cool Pacific breezes prevail overnight, creating extreme diurnal swings and a very long, slow ripening season.

Winemaker Brent Mayeaux describes this as likely the coldest Sangiovese site in California, noting the fruit is right on the edge of ripening each year. The 2021 is the return to a red wine after the 2020 vintage was made as a blanc de noir. To manage the site's naturally high acidity, Mayeaux used 100% whole-cluster fermentation with a four-week maceration, then aged the wine for one year in neutral barrels. The wine was bottled unfined and unfiltered with no added sulfites.

Stagiaire is the project of New Orleans-born, former engineer Brent Mayeaux, who staged at wineries in Australia and France before returning to California in 2018. The name references his time as an apprentice in the Jura, where winemakers like Philippe Bornard shaped his approach to minimal-intervention winemaking. His operation is based on Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay, and he sources from organically and regeneratively farmed vineyards along the California coast from Santa Cruz up to Sonoma.

The wine's high acidity and savory profile make it a natural match for tomato-based pasta dishes, roast chicken with herbs, or a board of aged hard cheeses. It also works well alongside grilled lamb chops or a simple arugula salad with shaved Parmesan. A light chill at around 60F helps brighten the aromatics.

Wine details

Dry/Sweet:, Dry
Wine Type:, Red Wine
Wine Style:, Medium Body
Grapes:, Sangiovese
Farming:, Organic
Vintage:, 2021
Alcohol:, N/A
Country:, United States
Region:, Santa Cruz Mountains
Appellation:, Santa Cruz Mountains AVA
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.**

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**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

Stagiaire Wine

Stagiaire Wine was founded by Brent Mayeaux, a New Orleans native who initially trained as an engineer before transitioning to winemaking. He began his wine career working under conventionally minded producers in California, then staged at wineries in Australia and France. It was in France, particularly in the Jura under Philippe Bornard and in the Adelaide Hills with Gareth Belton of Gentle Folk, that Mayeaux was drawn toward natural wine. He returned to California in 2018 with a European-influenced approach to farming and cellar work. The name Stagiaire — French for apprentice — was what the Jura vignerons called him when neighbors asked who the newcomer was.

Mayeaux initially tried to manage his own vines, but the cost of land in California made that unsustainable for a small independent producer. By 2021 he shifted to sourcing fruit from high-quality, organically and regeneratively farmed sites along the California coast, from the Santa Cruz Mountains up through Sonoma. He works specifically with growers farming in line with natural systems rather than recipe-driven viticulture. His winery operation is based out of a former industrial space on Treasure Island, a reclaimed land mass in the middle of San Francisco Bay.

Mayeaux produces what he describes as zero-zero wines: no added sulfites, no fining, no filtration, and no other additives or manipulations in the cellar. For Scales and Arpeggios, the entire lot was fermented as 100% whole clusters with a four-week maceration to temper the site's extreme natural acidity, then aged for one year in neutral barrels before bottling. His broader lineup varies considerably in style and grape variety from year to year depending on available fruit and what each site's potential suggests.

Wine region

Santa Cruz Mountains, United States

The Santa Cruz Mountains AVA spans three California counties — San Mateo, Santa Clara, and Santa Cruz — and stretches roughly 90 miles from Half Moon Bay in the north to Watsonville in the south. It was one of the first American Viticultural Areas defined by elevation and topography rather than political boundaries, established in 1981. Vineyards are planted between 400 and 2,600 feet above sea level, with the Ascona site at the upper end of that range in the South Skyline sub-region. The Pacific Ocean, just 15 miles from the highest ridgetops, drives daily fog and overnight cooling that produces strong diurnal temperature variation across the AVA.

Despite its enormous size of nearly 500,000 acres, less than 1% is planted to vine, with roughly 1,500 acres under cultivation across more than 200 small vineyards. The dominant plantings are Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Cabernet Sauvignon, though the region also hosts Sangiovese, Syrah, and other varieties in smaller quantities. Soils vary widely across the AVA but marine sedimentary deposits — sandstone, siltstone, and shale — are common at the higher elevations along the Skyline ridge. The cool climate, particularly on the western and summit-facing slopes, produces wines with notably high natural acidity and a long growing season that can extend well past typical California harvest windows.

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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