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A SEPTEMBER WINE CLUB SELECTION
About the Producer: Justin Michelle Ward Trabue is a fourth-generation Washingtonian who grew up with wine on the table and parents who traveled frequently to California wineries. In 2013, she moved to California to study winemaking at Cal Poly. Over the years, Justin has completed more than sixteen vintages and founded Ward Four Wines in 2021 — entirely grant-funded, with no outside investors. She works at Scribe Winery by day and produces her wines through a custom crush facility, Obsidian Wine Company, in Sonoma.
Justin exemplifies a first-generation American winemaker who is self-driven and grant-funded. For the cuvée featured in the club, only 59 cases were produced. She purchases all her fruit, operating as a négociant, meaning she does not own the land. By using a custom crush facility — similar to CommonWealth Crush in Virginia — she avoids the immense cost of purchasing winemaking equipment, a model many emerging winemakers rely on to build their careers without family industry connections.
Producing wine this way is challenging: Justin balances purchasing fruit, paying fees for the crush facility, and maintaining a day job for months before seeing a return on her product. At just thirty years old, she is taking incredible risks and achieving remarkable success. We are fortunate to share her wines in the club. [read more here]
About the Wine: Just 59 cases made. 100% Mourvèdre from Shake Ridge Ranch in Amador County, a historic vineyard managed by Ann Kraemer. This rosé has medium body and soaring acidity with a spectrum of vivid fruit: Rainier cherry, cranberry, watermelon, raspberry, currant, and pomegranate. Hand-harvested, bottled, and labeled — joy in a glass.