Desire Lines

When Cody and Emily Rasmussen setup desire lines in 2014, their aim was to craft transparent, site specific wines with an emphasis on vibrancy and freshness. Over the past decade their quest has seen them forge relationships with some of the Golden State’s most singular vineyards. Today their range of wines today includes a remarkable sauvignon blanc from high in the Mayacamas mountains; a Carignan dominant blend from the famous Evangelho vineyard in Contra Costa county, whose sandy soils are home to ungrafted vines planted in the 1890s; and a pair of syrahs, each with a drop of viognier, one a multi-site blend that represents an ode to the state’s coolest and windiest sites, the other grown in the Sierra foothills by viticultural legend Anne Kramer.

In his day job Cody is associate winemaker at the famed Bedrock Winery, and it is here that he makes his own label wines. The philosophy behind Desire Lines is derived from a love of wild processes and wild sites, a wish to let the natural voice of a vineyard have its say. What this means in the cellar is wild yeast fermentations across the board, plenty of whole bunch use in the reds, barrel fermentations for the whites and ageing in primarily old and neutral oak casks. Nothing is fined or filtered prior to bottling.

Pressed to remark on any single thread that might tie the vineyards together Cody was succinct, “Coastal cool and mountainous” – which would be a pretty good way to describe each of the wines he makes; these are vivid, expressive and hugely drinkable wines full of character and soul. For a refreshing look at what California can produce these Desire Lines’ bottles deliver on all fronts.