Dear Cellar Society Members,
Happy 2026! I hope everyone enjoyed the Holiday season and had a chance to open some 1850 wines during all the festivities. I would like to thank everyone who visited us at 1850 Wine Cellars and Myka Estates in 2025, and I hope you can come see us again in 2026 because we have many new wines for release and fun events planned at the Tasting Room in Apple Hill.
At the winery, we are hitting the ground running this new year as we are preparing to bottle new white and rosé wines from the 2025 vintage. These wines are all tasting fresh and lively now so they are ready to bottle. This round of bottling will include a new Myka Riesling. This wine has beautiful aromas of apricot and honeycomb with tropical fruit on the palate. This wine is sure to be a crowd pleaser so stay tuned for that release date!
We are also tasting through the new red wines from the 2025 vintage as they have now aged for a few months and are developing more varietal character and complexity. This past vintage is showcasing wines that are rich and fruity with a great depth of color and intense aromatics. I’m really looking forward to watching these wines progress as they age and integrate their oak profile.
In addition to creating our winery plan for the year, we are also planning out all the 1850 and Myka events we will be hosting at the Tasting Room throughout this next year. These will be posted to the website in the coming days so please be on the lookout for those dates on our calendar! Among the first of these events will be our Cellar Society Winter club release party on Saturday January 31st and Sunday February 1st where we will be releasing two new wines- the 2023 Malbec and the 2022 Petite Sirah. I’ll be there Saturday the 31st to chat about the new wines.
These two wines are great winter wines as they have great structure and complexity that will warm you right up. The 2023 Malbec aromatics are opening up very nicely right now as you will notice dark cherry and blackberry interlaced with hints of earthy, herbaceous and coffee like notes on the nose. The 2022 Petite Sirah has aged to the ideal point where its tannins are firm but silky smooth with a long finish. It is a powerful wine but is very approachable and enjoyable now.
I wish for a prosperous and joyous 2026 for all our friends and family in the Cellar Society. Hopefully I will get to see you all at the Tasting Room throughout this year as well!
Cheers!
Brian Darwazeh
Winemaker, 1850 Wine Cellars
2023 Malbec
El Dorado
El Dorado
TASTING NOTES: You can tell immediately from the nose that this is a complex and full-bodied wine. You’ll find ripe black cherry aromas mingling with hints of petrichor, forest floor, coffee beans, white pepper, and dried herbs. Juicy berry flavors and elegantly structured tannins make this a wine you will enjoy savoring and that needs no pairing but will gladly complement many foods.
WINEMAKING NOTES: This malbec was made to be a big wine while still being fruit forward. 2023 allowed us to give the fruit more hang time than usual, which helps develop a rich flavor profile on the vine. This malbec was one of our last picks that year. At the winery, the fruit was crushed, and the juice was cold soaked on the skins for two days prior to fermentation. This helps develop deep color as well as fruit character. After cold soaking the wine completed a slow and steady fermentation before being pressed to barrel for aging.
AGING: Aged in 100% new French oak with a variety of different toasts to give this wine layers of aromas and complexity on the palate. After an aging period, we blended in 12% Merlot and 9% Cabernet Franc from the same vintage to balance the structure of this malbec. Drink this wine now to enjoy its flavors of ripe dark berries interlaced with a firm structure, or lay this wine down for three years to experience more forward cocoa and coffee flavors.
FOOD PAIRING: Lean red meat or poultry with dark meat are classic pairings for malbec. Various cured meats will match the intensity of this wine and contrast well with its fruit forward characteristics. Trust us, you can’t go wrong with a bacon cheeseburger paired with this wine! Foods with sage, rosemary, bacon, roasted red peppers, or a creamy mushroom sauce will provide wonderfully contrasting flavors, with Chef Lisa’s mushroom ragu being a delicious pairing. For vegetarian pairings, roasted mushrooms and stuffed red bell peppers will pair quite well.
WINE SPECS
79% Malbec
12% Merlot
9% Cabernet Franc
14.8% alcohol
120 cases produced
$40 per bottle
2022 Petite Sirah, Fair Play
TASTING NOTES: This petite sirah is deep in color and nearly opaque with a bright magenta rim. Black pepper, blueberry and blackberry aromas abound in this wine backed by subtle forest floor earthiness. It is full bodied with a layered structure and lingering finish boasting flavors of plum, fresh tobacco, herbs, and black tea like tannins.
WINEMAKING NOTES: This petite sirah was picked at the ideal time when flavors and pigments had fully developed but there was still enough acid left in the berries to give the resulting wine a lean structure and bright fruit character. American oak was added to the must during the primary fermentation. This helped with the development of a big but approachable structure as well as rich fruit flavors.
AGING: After fermenting dry, this wine was aged in 75% new American oak for 18 months before being blended with 15% Zinfandel from the same vintage to add more dark berry flavors. This petite sirah was then aged in bottle for an additional eight months to better integrate the flavors and balance the structure. This wine will age beautifully for another five years.
FOOD PAIRING: A bold petite sirah like this calls for richly flavorful food pairings that can balance its intensity and not be overpowered by it. It is classically paired with rich, fatty and savory foods like steaks, BBQ ribs, meatloaf or roasts. Petite sirah can also pair with dishes that have complex and richly seasoned flavors like Chicken Molé or some Indian curries. For vegetarian or vegan pairings try dishes with beans, lentils, mushrooms and grilled vegetables like eggplant. The umami flavors of soy sauce can pair well.
WINE SPECS:
85% Petite Sirah
15% Zinfandel
14.7% alcohol
126 cases produced
$38 per bottle