08 Sep Please The Palate Wine of the Week: Markus Wine Co 2020 Nativo, Lodi

As a fan of unique wine blends, I was captivated by the Markus Wine Co 2020 Nativo from Lodi. A blend of 82 percent Kerner, 9 percent Bacchus, and 9 percent Riesling, this fresh, mineral driven wine is the Please The Palate wine of the week.

Markus Wine Company, based in Lodi, California, is owned by Swiss-born Markus Niggli who sources grapes from both ancient vines as well as newer unusual plantings to craft small-production wines. Instead of making single variety wines, Markus uses grapes like an artist uses paint colors. Blending different grapes together results in a final product that have a sense of place.

The Markus Wine Co 2020 Nativo is blend of German varieties Kerner, Riesling, and Bacchus grown in Mokelumne Glen Vineyard, the only source of the rare Kerner grape in California. Originally from Germany, Kerner is a white-wine grape created in 1929 as a cross between Trollinger (aka Schiava) and Riesling. While Riesling is high in acid and linear on the palate, Kerner is lower in acid and fuller in body. Bacchus was also created in Germany and is a combination of a Riesling-Silvaner cross with Müller-Thurgau.

Pick by hand, fermented with native yeasts, and aged in stainless steel, the 2020 Nativo is a lovely aromatic wine. Notes of lime, stone fruit, pear, honeysuckle, white pepper, and minerality jump out of the glass. A light-bodied, fresh wine, it has a lovely texture on the palate and finishes with wet-stone minerality.

The Markus Wine Co 2020 Nativo retails for $22 and is perfect to pair with freshly grilled fish, such as grilled swordfish with a squeeze of lime.