Ardure Wines Muscat Canelli
Muscat Canelli, 2021
Clear Lake > Lake County > California
One Sonoma winemaker is breaking the mold with an unorthodox addition: crystals! Meet Jason Ruppert - a bonafide queer identified, self proclaimed witch of the highest order. Since 2018, he’s owned Ardure Wines, and has made a name for himself adding crystals like rose quartz, labradorite and fluorite to his wines while they ferment and age. His goal? Add some extra “good vibes” to each bottle. “People are stressed out,” he says. “We’re all really tired, and any extra vibration — any extra intention — beyond the bottle itself is worthy.” It’s also out there. But, he’s not here to prove anything by it. He’s into it, and doing it, and that’s all that matters.
Muscat Canelli, 2021
Clear Lake > Lake County > California
One Sonoma winemaker is breaking the mold with an unorthodox addition: crystals! Meet Jason Ruppert - a bonafide queer identified, self proclaimed witch of the highest order. Since 2018, he’s owned Ardure Wines, and has made a name for himself adding crystals like rose quartz, labradorite and fluorite to his wines while they ferment and age. His goal? Add some extra “good vibes” to each bottle. “People are stressed out,” he says. “We’re all really tired, and any extra vibration — any extra intention — beyond the bottle itself is worthy.” It’s also out there. But, he’s not here to prove anything by it. He’s into it, and doing it, and that’s all that matters.
Muscat Canelli, 2021
Clear Lake > Lake County > California
One Sonoma winemaker is breaking the mold with an unorthodox addition: crystals! Meet Jason Ruppert - a bonafide queer identified, self proclaimed witch of the highest order. Since 2018, he’s owned Ardure Wines, and has made a name for himself adding crystals like rose quartz, labradorite and fluorite to his wines while they ferment and age. His goal? Add some extra “good vibes” to each bottle. “People are stressed out,” he says. “We’re all really tired, and any extra vibration — any extra intention — beyond the bottle itself is worthy.” It’s also out there. But, he’s not here to prove anything by it. He’s into it, and doing it, and that’s all that matters.
Grape: 100% Muscat Canelli
ABV: 11.5%
The Story: Jason Ruppert admits his process is rooted in spirituality, not science. There’s been no trials to decipher how or if crystals impact wine, but he believes there’s a key and noticeable difference. And it may not be as woo-woo as it sounds. Egyptians, Greeks and Romans sometimes placed precious gems and crystals in goblets of wine to help increase potency. Quartz is commonly found in vineyard soils, and many believe this brings a mineral quality to the wines. And one of the most important preparations used in biodynamic farming involves silica, an element of quartz, finely ground and placed in cow horns and on the vines. The quartz absorbs and radiates light.
The grapes — picked in late August — were sourced from the high-elevation Luchsinger Vineyard in Clear Lake, California (a sub-appellation of Lake County AVA). Following a 24-hour resting period, Jason destemmed the fruit and left the whole berries to ferment for 10 days. Next he pressed the still-fermenting juice into two California-made amphorae (large clay urn-like vessels) to finish primary fermentation and begin malolactic conversion — the process by which tart malic acid (think green apples) becomes creamier lactic acid (yogurt). Aged for 11 months. Unfined, unfiltered, zero zero (no sulfites added). He places Shungite spheres on top of amphorae lids. Extremely rare and made of carbon, shungite is used to repel bacteria and electromagnetic fields (EMFs). “Tech is everywhere around us, and EMFs are somewhat harmful in excess,” said Ruppert, who has shungite next to his TV at home. Once he bottles a vintage, Ruppert washes the crystals in a saline and water solution before burying them in his garden to “recharge” on the full moon. At the next full moon, he finishes charging them under the moonlight for three days, where they “gather celestial energies. The wine has essentially drained their juice. It’s like charging a battery.”
Personality: Crackles like morning light. Aromatics that burst out of the glass. Flavors that are both celestial and earthbound: musky, garden-scented and blissfully alive, maybe a little under ripe pineapple and agave lime salt.
Harmony: This wine is so pleasurable on its own, so go simple with flavors to get the most out of this wine’s delicate complexity. Think something like roast chicken and mash. Or, go bold and tropical - whatever you might eat at a Luau.