Ryan Stirm is one of the important young farmers and winemakers emerging in California’s new guard; press outlets in the state have buzzed about him for several years. When you ask Ryan about it, though, he’ll say he cares mostly about vineyards: specifically, “the most unique and rugged vineyards found on the Central Coast.” Stirm’s passion for informed, accomplished vinification is clear right away, too; there’s an impatience for opinions held on wine without technical know-how to back them up, even though he’ll also let you know that he wasn’t great at high school. It’s a thing you’ll hear more than once with people who end up making very good wine, and if you happened to go to school with wrestlers, his folded ears speak for themselves. Ryan knows what he’s doing, both in the field and at ferment, and there’s a bit of a humble/assertive push-pull in these wines: not that the style is at all flashy or glossy, but that these wines are a lot of different things: ripe, particular, sometimes subtle, also expressive, rustic, all in alternating fashion. These wines prod: what are the important sites and appellations of California? The style of wine from the state? The great grapes? Who says all wine has to be made as you learn at UC Davis?

Specificity of place, of vineyard site, is what motivates Stirm the most: “We have two simple goals that direct every operation above all else: to present the narrative of the growing season in a delicious and transparent format, and to craft a wine with a strong foundation intended to age for decades. The fundamentals that we follow are old-school; we work with the seasons. We spend the majority of our time working in the vineyards, with our harvest season spent between monitoring natural fermentations to picking grapes and the overtime hours dedicated to fixing broken gear. …The results are wines [that are] a living piece of California history.”

With partner Jehan Hakimian, Stirm also makes wines under the ‘Los Chuchaquis’ label, a more experimental line of interesting fruit sources and combinations, plus unique winemaking, that allow the duo to play with wines that fall even farther outside the California norm. Don’t miss the ‘Bandido’—the type of red wine that will please even cult Napa Cab folks with its not-shy, muscular fruit, but will also surprise with its freshness and nimble quality—for those who don’t want red wines that result in skull-splitting regret the next day.

We’re excited to be working with this refreshing winemaker—one who’s staking his reputation on nurturing under-loved varieties and lesser-known appellations.