It’s not unusual for an oenophile to be into French Wine, but Scott MacFiggen and Regina Bustamante who founded Sosie Wines, dove deep into this passion, spending as much time as they could exploring the wines and regions of France.

With time spent in the Loire, the Côte de Nuit, and the Rhône, they soaked up the French style of wine, simple, of the earth.

When they opened their winery in 2015 they focused on restraint, and finesse.  They wanted to be truly French in their style and named their winery Sosie (So-Zee), the French word for twin or double.

They searched for organic and sustainable vineyards to source from in Napa and Sonoma, looking for cooler sites to express freshness in the wine. They were not looking for “big, bold & powerful” which is a trend in some American Wines.

On the side label of their bottle, they explain their concept

We live in the bear state of California, but we are inspired by the wines of France.  So we employ an old-world approach to winegrowing that favors restraint over ripeness, finesse over flamboyance.  Our aim is to craft wines that show a kinship with France’s benchmark regions. Wines that are their sosie.”

Sosie 2019 White Blend from Rossi Ranch

This wine from Rossi Ranch in the Sonoma Valley, is a blend of 52% Roussanne, 27% Grenache Blanc and 21% Marsanne.  This wine is co-fermented (all the varieties together) in barrel and they do not allow it to go through malolactic fermentation.  It ages 10 months in neutral oak.

Rossi Ranch Vineyard was planted in 1910 by Carlo Rossi. The soil here is clay loam with some volcanic ash. The vineyard is Organically farmed and surrounded by forests of oak and pine.

They made just 4 barrels of this wine.

14.6% abv – SRP $35

My notes

This wine poured a deeper yellow and was richer on the nose than I had expected.  It reminded me of aged Roussanne (it is 52% Roussanne after all) and also of wines of the Jura.

There were notes of baked apple, ripe pear, subtle white flowers, and a bit of dust.  The fruit on the palate is bold and almost made me think at first that the wine was off-dry, but it was not.

In my mouth, the wine had both tart and sweet fruit notes balanced, like lemon curd, with baked apple again, and dried apricot.

Sosie 2017 Spring Hill Vineyard Pinot Noir

This Pinot Noir is a blend of the clones Calera, Swan & Pommard 5. Spring Hill Vineyard is on a ridge 7 miles from the coast.

This ridge sits in the Petaluma Gap, where is catches the wind, cold air and fog from the Pacific.  This wind and cool condition give you smaller berries and lower yields.

While Spring Hill Vineyard grows 7 different clones of Pinot Noir, Sosie chose just 3 for their blend.

Calera to bring its texture of velvet, high acid and earthy tones, Pommard for dark plum and body and Swan for aromas of red berries (raspberry, strawberry, cranberry).

They practice sustainable agriculture here, using “natural cover crops of Lupine, crimson clover, California poppy and rye” (I imagine it would be a stunning vineyard to visit!).  They use owls to keep down rodent pest and the ranch itself has herds of Wagyu and Scottish Highland Cattle.

The grapes were harvested on September 6, 2017 and did a 6 day cold soak, native yeast fermentation, with 50% whole cluster and 16 days on the skins.  It ages 21 months in 40% New Oak.

They made just 5 barrels of this wine.

13.1% abv – SRP $45

My notes

The Pinot pour dark and the nose had notes of Black cherry, cranberry, cherry cola and anise.

In my mouth I tasted black cherry again and black plum.  This is fruit forward with bits of sweet baking spices.  A very satisfying wine.