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Stagiaire Wine

Sufficiently Whelming 2021

Price: $36.95
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Tasting notes

The Lolonis Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc block, planted in 1942, may be the oldest in the country, and the drought conditions of 2021 concentrated skin phenolics at low sugar levels — a rare combination that gives this wine grip and depth without heaviness. It opens flinty and tight, then loosens into citrus and tropical fruit with time in the glass.

BodyFruitTanninAcidity
FlintGrapefruitWhite PeachHoneysuckle
  • Style: Dry white blend; Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay; flinty and citrus-forward; 12.7% ABV; Redwood Valley, Mendocino
  • Grapes & Terroir: Sauvignon Blanc (planted 1942) and Chardonnay (planted 1946-47); Lolonis Vineyard; dry-farmed, CCOF-certified organic; red clay benchland soils, ~800ft elevation, Redwood Valley AVA
  • Winemaking: Native yeast fermentation; started in stainless steel; 9 months in used barrels; zero additions; no fining, no filtration
  • Serving: Serve at 48-52F; allow 15-20 minutes open before serving
  • Pairing: Oysters, grilled sardines, goat cheese, leek gratin, lemon-dressed salads
  • Similar To: For fans of Loire Sauvignon Blanc or white Burgundy who want California old-vine character without oak influence

Sufficiently Whelming is a co-ferment of Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay sourced from Lolonis Vineyard in Redwood Valley, Mendocino County. The Sauvignon Blanc block was planted in 1942 and is among the oldest known SB plantings in the country. The Chardonnay dates to 1946-47. Both are head-trained, dry-farmed, and grown on benchland red clay soils strewn with fist-sized rocks at approximately 800 feet elevation, and the vineyard has been farmed organically since the 1950s.

The 2021 season was marked by severe drought across Northern California. At Lolonis, the stress concentrated sugars and phenolics in unusually small clusters, but winemaker Brent Mayeaux notes the fruit reached that development at a low sugar level, with fully developed skins and no botrytis — a result of the dry conditions. Fermentation was smooth. The wine started in stainless steel, then aged nine months in used barrels.

On the palate, the wine opens with flinty, tight structure and gradually opens into citrus and tropical fruit. Mayeaux describes it as unwinding with time, and expects it to reward patience if cellared. At 12.7% ABV, it sits on the lighter side for California white wine, with genuine tension between richness and acidity.

Stagiaire Wine is a zero-zero project, meaning no additions in the cellar — no added sulfites, no adjustments. The grapes do the work.

The wine's flint and citrus character works well with raw oysters, grilled sardines, or a simple green salad with a lemon vinaigrette. The body and texture hold up to soft fresh chevre or a leek and potato gratin.

Wine details

Dry/Sweet:, Dry
Wine Type:, White Wine
Wine Style:, Medium Body
Grapes:, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay
Farming:, Organic
Vintage:, 2021
Alcohol:, 12.7%
Country:, USA
Region:, Redwood Valley
Appellation:, Redwood Valley 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.


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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.


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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.


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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

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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.

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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 is the project of Brent Mayeaux, a New Orleans native who began his career working under conventionally minded California winemakers before pivoting toward natural wine after stages in Australia with Gareth Belton of Gentle Folk in the Adelaide Hills and in France's Jura with Philippe Bornard. He returned to California in 2018 and launched Stagiaire. The name comes from the French word for apprentice, which is what his Jura winemaker called him when other local vignerons asked who he was.

Mayeaux operates out of a shared industrial space on Treasure Island, a reclaimed island in the middle of San Francisco Bay. In 2021, after years of farming his own parcels across Northern California, he shifted to a négociant model, sourcing fruit from high-quality organically farmed sites he trusts. This allows him more time in the cellar per lot. Lolonis Vineyard in Redwood Valley, dry-farmed and organically certified, is one of those sites.

Mayeaux makes zero-zero wines — no added sulfites, no fining agents, no adjustments. Fermentation is native. For Sufficiently Whelming, the fruit started in stainless steel and moved to used barrels for nine months. Winemaking decisions shift vintage to vintage based on what the fruit needs.

Wine region

Redwood Valley, USA

Redwood Valley is an upland AVA within Mendocino County, located approximately 130 miles north of San Francisco in the eastern, inland portion of the county. The valley floor sits at roughly 800 feet elevation, with Pacific air currents reaching it through a gap in the coastal ridge, moderating temperatures and extending the growing season compared to the warmer Ukiah Valley directly to the south. The result is a Region II climate on the UC heat summation scale — cooler than most inland Mendocino valleys, with higher natural acidity and phenolic development in the grapes.

The soils on the valley benchlands, where Lolonis Vineyard sits, are red clay strewn with rocks, free-draining and iron-rich. These thin, dry soils stress vine roots and concentrate flavors in small-clustered fruit. Mendocino County is California's leading organic farming county, with roughly 25% of vineyard acreage CCOF-certified organic. Frey Vineyards, also in Redwood Valley, was the first certified organic winery in the United States. The AVA is best known for Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, and Petite Sirah, but the benchland sites at Lolonis have produced notable Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay from some of the oldest plantings of those varieties in California.

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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