Wines

Carol’s 2015 Chardonnay is our golden-haired wild child, an exuberant and delectable mouthful of joy. Sourced from her estate vineyard in Dry Creek Valley, this vivacious white wine is a classic California Chardonnay with a delicate balance of richness and acidity to please all the Wild Things out there… Remember, you are what you drink! 

High up in the Sierra Nevada, the California Gold Country town of Auburn. lies this gem of a vineyard of Viognier, planted and managed by the father and son team of John and Joe Damiano.  When picked just a bit less ripe than many CA Viogniers, the fruit expresses lively citrus and gentle white flower aromatics, while barrel fermentation in mostly older French oak barrels leads to a wine of perfect structure and creamy-crispy balance.  

We originally created the 2008 version of this wine to celebrate our 10^th anniversary as a winery in 2010.  With the exotic complexity and food friendliness of a white Rhone-style blend, it is a “red-drinker’s white,” a complex alternative to the more one-dimensional white varietal wines like Chardonnay and Sauvignon blanc. It is the perfect complement to its namesake shellfish, as well as chicken or pork dishes with buttery-creamy sauces.  *Coquille is pronounced “ko-keel” and it is French for shellfish or scallop, like the scallop shells on the Shelton family coat of arms.

A rendezvous with friends is all the more delicious a pleasure over a bottle of luscious chilled dry rosé, hence the name of our Rendezvous Rosé. Created by bleeding half of the “pink” juice off of red Carignane grapes a full three days after crushing them, it is fermented cold like a white wine to retain every luscious drop of crisp strawberry fruitiness.  

Old Vine Mendocino Zinfandel is a treasure. Grown on the benchlands and slopes of mountainsides — this 60 plus year old vine Zinfandel was named for these wild- looking vines and also for the uninoculated, or “wild,” yeast ferment that was used to create it.  It takes a lot of effort to tame this wild fruit, but it is worth all the trouble. Wild Thing is dangerously good!   Remember – you are what you drink ….

89 Points - Wine Spectator, Sept 30, 2016 & 4 GOLD Medals

Old Vine Mendocino Zinfandel is a treasure. Grown on the benchlands and slopes of mountainsides — this wild-looking old vine Zinfandel offers fruit that winemaker Carol Shelton, with her 35+ years of experience and creativity, has transformed into a wine that is concentrated yet soft, creamy and full of flavor.  Our Wild Thing Zinfandel was named for these wild- looking vines and also for the uninoculated, or wild, yeast ferment that was used to create it.  It takes a lot of effort to tame this wild fruit, but it is worth all the trouble.

____LIMITED AVAILABILITY____

Wine Spectator Top 100 Wines of 2014, #89

90 Points - Wine Spectator, May 31, 2014 & 2 GOLD Medals

September is Good Karma month at Carol Shelton Wines. For every bottle of 2014 Karma Reserve purchased this month Carol will donate a dollar to one of her favorite charities. 

It’s Karma:  if you do good things, something good will happen. Our Karma Reserve red blend is a complex wine that is both bold and fruity, brimming with dark fruit flavors and deep toasted oak. We pass along this good Karma to you ….now pay it forward!

92 Points - California Grapevine, August, 2017

91 Points - Wine Spectator, December 15, 2016

90 Points - Connoisseurs' Guide to CA, September, 2016

We christened the Monga Zin® as we stumbled while saying its appellation too many times, probably after having too much of this HUMONGOUS mouthful of fruit and rich milk chocolate.

90 Points - Connoisseurs' Guide to CA, January, 2016

90 Points - California Grapevine

Our Cuvée Jacqueline is elegant, pretty and complex, much like our friend Jacqueline herself. Sustainably farmed vines and the wild yeast that grow upon their grapes have created this wonderfully rich and creamy Zinfandel. 

The name for our reserve wine, Rocky Reserve®, comes from the deep red, rocky soils of the Florence Vineyard, 1400 feet above Lake Sonoma and Dry Creek Valley. This is a more elegant and restrained Zin, worthy of five or more years of cellaring, though it is packed with fragrant black and blue berry fruits.

89 Points - Connoisseurs' Guide to CA, September, 2016

92 Points - Wine Spectator, August 31, 2016

90 Points - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, Issue #223, March, 2016

Every once in a while, a twist of fate can deal a quirky hand, and with a stroke of magic it can become an enchanting experience.  Black Magic™ Late Harvest Zinfandel conjures up a charming finale for a delicious meal—lusciously jammy and sweet, it complements many foods from savory cheese plates to decadent chocolate desserts.  Abracadabra!

Best Red Dessert Wine, a DOUBLE GOLD and 4 GOLD Medals

Back to the future at last!  Carol used the vibrant red Carignane from these 60+ year old vines at her long stint as winemaker at Windsor Vineyards, and now they have come “back home to mama!”

Our legendary Rockpile grower, Jack Florence Sr., also farms this creekside vineyard in the northern tip of Dry Creek Valley. Our Florence Petite is brighter in acidity with riper berry flavors than its more elegant Rockpile counterpart.

Larson Vineyard, in the Sonoma side of Carneros, is owned by our friend and fellow home brewer, Ken Larson. In our Pinot Noir we blended two Dijon clones: 60% clone 115 and 40% clone 667, both hailing from the Dijon region of Burgundy originally.  We really like the complex flavors, rich fruit and spicy firm tannin structure that this wine delivers…truly a classic “iron fist in a velvet glove!”

The Petite Sirah is farmed by legendary Rockpile grower Jack Florence on a well-draining, rocky riverbed vineyard. Located on the northern tip of Dry Creek Valley, this Petite Sirah is brighter and jammier than its Rockpile counterpart.

The Petite Sirah is farmed by legendary Rockpile grower Jack Florence on a well-draining, rocky riverbed vineyard. Located on the northern tip of Dry Creek Valley, this Petite Sirah is brighter and jammier than its Rockpile counterpart.

The high elevation of this vineyard (2000 feet in “coastal” west Sonoma County) gives it an elegant flavor profile, a bit similar to our wines from the Rockpile AVA.  The vineyard faces several sheer granite rock outcroppings called The Devil’s Ribs, which absorb all the sun’s heat all day long and radiate it back slowly all night, allowing the fruit to get more evenly ripe earlier in the harvest season.  It is graciously styled with black cherry-cassis fruit and a nice hint of tobacco and cedar-spice, with a long smooth finish.

The high elevation of this vineyard (2000 feet in “coastal” west Sonoma County) gives it an elegant flavor profile, a bit similar to our wines from the Rockpile AVA.  The vineyard faces several sheer granite rock outcroppings called The Devil’s Ribs, which absorb all the sun’s heat all day long and radiate it back slowly all night, allowing the fruit to get more evenly ripe earlier in the harvest season.  It is graciously styled with black cherry-cassis fruit and a nice hint of tobacco and cedar-spice, with a long smooth finish.

Our Rockpile Reserve®  titles designate a series of elegant red wines from the Rockpile AVA, 1000-2000 feet above Lake Sonoma and the Dry Creek Valley in NW Sonoma County.  This Cabernet Sauvignon is the second varietal of the series to be released, and it is comes from the Rockpile Vineyard of Rod and Cathy Park at 2000 foot elevation.  It is graciously styled with black cherry-cassis fruit and a nice hint of tobacco and cedar-spice, with the long smooth creamy finish that is so characteristic of Rockpile reds.

Our Rockpile Reserve®  titles designate a series of elegant red wines from the Rockpile AVA, 1000-2000 feet above Lake Sonoma and the Dry Creek Valley in NW Sonoma County.  This Cabernet Sauvignon is the second varietal of the series to be released, and it is comes from the Rockpile Vineyard of Rod and Cathy Park at 2000 foot elevation.  It is graciously styled with black cherry-cassis fruit and a nice hint of tobacco and cedar-spice, with the long smooth creamy finish that is so characteristic of Rockpile reds.

Our Rockpile Reserve®  titles designate a series of elegant red wines from the Rockpile AVA, 1000-2000 feet above Lake Sonoma and the Dry Creek Valley in NW Sonoma County.  The Petite Sirah is the from the Parks’ Rockpile Vineyard, one of the first vineyards to be planted in the AVA, back in 1988.  It is not a “rip your face off” Petite, but graciously styled while still full bodied, and packed with black pepper and sweet oak.