The 2019 Sumo has a deep, dark nose of brambly blackberry, blueberry jam, black licorice, black cherry stones, violets, cassis bud, cedar, and a hint of white pepper. The palate has a silky entry with seamless, velvet-textured tannins throughout to the finish, subtly framing the blue and black fruit, asphalt, cherry blossom, dried herb and spice flavors on the palate.

18 months in 100% French Oak, 60% new oak.

Cote Rotie style.

14.8% ABV

BACKGROUND
Helen Keplinger moved to California to attend the MS program in Enology at UC Davis. She has worked with Heidi Barrett at Paradigm in Napa Valley, Kathy Joseph at Fiddlehead in Santa Barbara, Michel Rolland, and David Abreu in Napa Valley. Since 2004, she has made wine for some exciting projects, including Cellers Melis (Priorat, Spain), Kenzo Estate, Arrow & Branch, Bryant Family Vineyards, and is currently crafting wine for Grace Family Vineyard, Carte Blanche, and Kerr Cellars.

Helen met DJ while he was managing a Spanish wine shop part time which led the two to meet over a bottle of 1995 Pago de los Capellanes, Riserva on DJs recommendation. Helenʼs time in Priorat working with Grenache and finding unique singular vineyard sites for Melis was the inspiration for Keplinger wines. In 2006, Helen founded Keplinger and the couple launched their first vintage in 2008 with a focus on small production, single-vineyard Rhone varietal wines.

Keplinger focuses on making seamlessly-crafted, terroir-driven, Rhone varietal wines from unique and diverse sites in Napa, Sonoma & Sierra Foothills. All the vineyards are hillside or mountain sites, carefully farmed by hand for small berries and concentrated flavors, in close collaboration with Helen. Each wine comes from a singular vineyard to represent the characteristics of the grape or grapes in the wine from their respective vineyardʼs terroir each vintage. The wines are made in small lots, with careful attention paid to every detail.