Birichino Rokurokubi & Inugami 2023 75cl

Alex Krause and John Locke founded the Birichino winery in Santa Cruz in 2008. Birichino is their pet and when the two christened their youngest son, they had already more than earned their spurs in the wine world, with decades of experience in the Old and New World and collaborations with renowned winemakers on their impressive resume. In their wines, they want to let the terroir and the grapes themselves speak, rather than putting their own stamp on it: the old vines they use tell a story that often spans more than a century. Technical interventions are kept to a minimum and there is no messing around with chemical junk. The wines that result are pure, intense and uplifting. And where does that strange name come from? Krause and Locke were looking for an original name, which is almost impossible to pronounce in English. Their first idea was Alluce, until it turned out that it means 'big toe'! Birichino not only turned out to sound fun, but is also Italian for naughty.