OUR STORY BEGINS WITH A BLEND

The word SALDO derives from the Italian word for ‘I join’. In a broad sense, this is what SALDO is about: putting together fruit from California’s historic growing regions and shaping that fruit with human hands.

Making great wine requires experimentation, a willingness to try anything to best serve the fruit and the soil. As part of the SALDO Collective we are excited to introduce you to some off-the-beaten-path winemaking methods. These approaches may be new or may be centuries old but either way, we are pushing the boundaries of California wine to new and delicious places.  

To get your hands on our limited-production offerings, we'd love to welcome you as a member of the Collective! ​ 

Our next shipment is coming soon!

The Spring shipment includes two new vintage club exclusive wines: 2023 Carbonic Zinfandel and 2023 White Zinfandel, in addition to a familiar favorite, the 2021 Carignan. 

Learn more about our wines below.

SALDO Carbonic Zinfandel bottle on white backround

SALDO CARBONIC ZINFANDEL

Our winemakers went wild creating this bright red that bursts with flavors of red fruit. 

While Zinfandel traditionally runs on the bolder end of the spectrum, producing hearty wines for hearty meals, SALDO’s carbonic Zinfandel opens up new possibilities. What if, we wondered, you could keep all the juicy, brooding fruit character of the Zinfandel we love, but make a wine suitable for less lush occasions?  

We got to experimenting and by making use of carbonic maceration, we’ve made a wine bursting with energy; fresh fruit and baking spice in a wine that remains light on its feet and ready to drink.  

Zippy, juicy and perfect with a slight chill, our Carbonic Zinfandel opens with crushed wild berries, jammy blackberries and a lively mouthfeel of raspberry, black cherry and light peppercorn spice.

The new vintage of this online exclusive wine will be included in the upcoming club shipment!

SALDO WHITE ZINFANDEL

Meet your new summer rosé.​ 

Chances are you’ve heard someone speak ill of White Zinfandel. Sometimes called ‘blush’, White Zin was a staple of California wine in the 1980s and 1990s. The thing is, White Zinfandel as we know it was a mistake. The style was born when a fermentation stalled in a batch of wine, leaving a high level of residual sugar unconverted to alcohol. The result was a bright pink, semi-sweet wine that was technically drinkable, but not what critics might call a ‘serious’ wine.  

White Zinfandel deserves better. At SALDO, we love Zinfandel. It’s America’s grape after all, capable of producing wines of texture, depth, and profound expression. Our White Zinfandel is anything but conventional. It is a bright, elegant wine – light on its feet, completely dry in style, with notes of watermelon and green apple skin. Far from your parents’ “blush”, this White Zin has serious poise.

The new vintage of this online exclusive wine will be included in the upcoming club shipment!

SALDO CARIGNAN

A nervy, fruit-forward wine that demonstrates California can do so much more than Cabernet.​ 

SALDO’s beginning may be a blend, but our Carignan elevates single-varietal wines to the same level of care and innovation. Sourced from vineyards in the Alexander Valley AVA, this is wine at its most direct. Imagine a less-tannic Zinfandel or a vaguely lighter-bodied Merlot and you will get a sense of Carignan. 

Carignan is a fairly versatile grape, finding a home in classic French blends from the Loire, Rhône, and Languedoc. But on its own, it commands a sort of electric presence. Layers of tart fruit and spice come together to make a structurally complete wine. While Carignan may not be the red wine you think to reach for, it has every bit as much depth and intensity as the more common varietals.

This online exclusive wine is only available to club members and will be included in the upcoming club shipment!

SALDO Collective Members:
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SALDO FALANGHINA

California by way of Italy: skin contact Falanghina for everything from aperitivo hour to a full meal. We took a trend—hey, orange wine lovers—and made it not only visually beautiful, but remarkably delicious.  

Hailing from southern Italy’s Campania region, Falanghina is not exactly a household name in the U.S. – but it should be. Wines are zesty with peach fruit, minerals, and almond notes. This wine is a great match with scallops, prawns, or pasta with fresh garlic and butter.  

For this wine, white grapes get the same winemaking treatment used in red wine production. Because Falanghina has this breadth, we were inspired to push it even further, leaving the wine to ferment on the skis for 5-6 days to gain structure and weight. The skins and seeds stay in the mix during fermentation, imparting stunning color and complexity.

This is an online exclusive wine!

SALDO Falanghina orange skin contact wine bottle on white background

SALDO ZINFANDEL

There is nothing quite like Zinfandel. A thin-skilled grape capable of producing wine that manage to be both structured and direct, Zinfandel bursts with intensity. This grape also has something of a cosmopolitan history. It goes by the name “Primitivo” in Italy and “Tribidrag” in Croatia where geneticists believe its story began. Still, Zinfandel flourishes in California, thriving in regions of extended sunny exposure. As wine fashions change and growers and vintners started to champion more familiar European styles like Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel got list in the shuffle. Refusing to be swept up by the trends, we decided to restore dignity to Zinfandel, treating it with the seriousness and care it deserves. 

Our take on the classic varietal, SALDO Zinfandel features a robust palate of dark fruit and spice balance by fine lingering tannins. The fraction of Petite Sirah we blend in adds structure and floral aromas. This wine is one to linger over with friends, savoring the long history of a grape finally getting its due. 

SALDO RED BLEND

This wine is paradigmatically California. Ripe with character and weight, but fresh and ready to drink, it beautifully represents the SALDO perspective.  

We like to say that we started with a blend, and we remember why that matters year after year each time we release our Red Blend. Blends are about balance: different varietals in conversations with each other, weighing tannin and fruit, acidity, and color.  

This blend is Petite Sirah dominate, which is a bold, tannic varietal that offers brooding dark fruit and spice. But this base is made up of an iconic trio of grapes from France’s Rhone Valley: Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvèdre. Dark fruit like blueberry, blackberry and plum. What results is a wine that is ready for a hearty meal and the summer passes to fall, or a contemplative wine drink on its own, savored and enjoyed among friends.

SALDO CHENIN BLANC

One could be forgiven for not immediately thinking of Chenin when asked about white wine.  

 Native to the Loire Valley in central France, Chenin was long a wine geek’s secret, overshadowed by a more conventional taste for Chardonnay and Pinot Grigio. But there is something magical about Chenin, a story that deserves to be told.  

 Chenin’s early days were dominated by sweet wine of varying quality, made with late-harvest grapes that produced high-alcohol dessert wine. In recent years though, renowned voices like Master Sommelier Pascaline Lepeltier have advocated strongly for Chenin, inspiring the venerable Portland, Oregon wine program SE Wine Collective to found #DrinkCheninDay. Chenin, it would seem, is due for a renaissance. Wines made from Chenin have a satisfying textural quality, a sort of honeyed depth that is balanced by a powerful but not overbearing acidity. Departing from the French style, our Chenin reflects the particular microclimate of Clarksburg: fruity, floral, and fun.

Learn more about the wines directly from our winemaking team below