Desire Lines Massa Vineyard Kabinett Riesling Carmel Valley 2022

At ACME, our mission is simple: share the undiscovered wine gems of the world with those who will appreciate them most. As you know, we focus mainly on being a launchpad for debut projects from the best and brightest winemakers and vineyards. Often, the small-production, family-owned brands that we take under our wing require a little help to get the exposure required to prosper in this saturated industry. Desire Lines Wine Co. is one such brand. We first fell in love with these wines after sampling a single-vineyard Syrah we featured in our Under the Radar club. It was no surprise when the re-order emails started flowing in, and the wine quickly sold out. Being able to offer such tremendous support does not go unnoticed, and when Desire Lines releases a new wine, we are the first to know!

Desire Lines Wine Co. is the passion project of husband-and-wife team Cody and Emily Rasmussen, Iowa natives and high school sweethearts. The duo moved to Sonoma County in 2011 and built exciting careers in the following decade. Cody is the Associate Winemaker at Bedrock Wine Co. (2020 Winery of the Year), a winery focusing on heritage vineyards and age-worthy wines. Emily runs a communications consulting business where she collaborates on digital marketing, public relations, and communications for several wineries in Napa and Sonoma. Together, they started Desire Lines in 2017, hoping to make vibrant and delicious wines from truly great vineyards in their adopted home – the Golden State. Desire lines, sometimes called other names depending on what part of the world you are from - social trails, cow paths, and pirate paths, to name a few - are unofficial routes that are formed over time as people reject the designated paths in favor of a route of their design. This individuality is the ethos in which the Rasmussen Family has forged their lives and this brand.

Massa Vineyard was integral to the growth of the Carmel Valley AVA after the region’s accreditation in the early 90s. Massa (previously Heller Estate and Durney Vineyards) pioneered organic grape growing when few properties laid stock in these practices. The vineyards were certified organic in the early 1980s, and each steward has continued the efforts of the last by instituting methods such as pesticide/herbicide-free pest management, composting with leftover organic matter from harvest, and planting cover crops for habitat maintenance and weed management.

In the spirit of forging your own path, Cody & Emily crafted a Kabinett-style Riesling from Massa in 2022, the first wine of its kind in California. In Germany, where Riesling is King, there are two classification systems for the varietal: sweet and dry. Kabinett is the term for the lowest level of sweetness possible within the sweet style classification. Kabinetts tend to be the driest of the sweet styles, landing in the range of 148-188 g/L of sugar. However, don’t be fooled by the “drier” nomenclature, as Kabinett Rieslings are still sweet and come in at 40-80 grams more sugar than a liter of Coca-Cola. Now that’s a sweet wine!

Cody describes the 2022 Massa Riesling as “precocious, bright, and lush. Lemon, green apple, and orange citrus are suffused with green herbal and floral essences. The palate is delicate and sorbet-like, with a lusciously lingering and stone-laced finish.” This Riesling from Desire Lines is a one-of-a-kind wine we’re proud to share with our Pulse club.