Lightsome Mourvèdre 2024

Lightsome's Mourvèdre is a lighter style of the varietal but has some grip to the finish. Expect classic notes of ripe strawberry but also mushroom and wet forest floor.

The fruit came from the Craig Holmes vineyard, a small one-acre vineyard located about eight miles north of Johnson City. This vineyard sits on one of the fingers of the the Llano that stretches far south therefore the vines are sitting on shallow topsoil before hitting a granite slab. 

The grapes were hand-harvested, foot-stomped in a one-ton macrobin (50% de-stemmed and 50% whole cluster), then pressed using a basket press with a total of one hour skin contact. The juice was racked to stainless tanks and fermented with native yeast and bacteria, then aged for 10 months in neutral French oak. No additions except for minimal sulfur. The wine was bottled unfined and unfiltered.

Lightsome Wines are produced by owner/winemaker Adrienne Ballou in Stonewall in the Texas Hill Country. With a focus on thoughtful wines made with fruit sourced from vineyards in the Texas Hill Country and Texas High Plains, the label has quickly become one of the most coveted in the new wave of natural winemaking in Texas. Ballou received a B.S. in Viticulture and Enology from UC Davis in 2012, has worked vintages in Walla Walla, Burgundy, and Australia, and developed the fruit refermentation and barrel program for Jester King Brewery. She is currently based in Johnson City, Texas. Ballou's wines reflect a low-intervention approach in the winery and speak of the fruit that built them.