When we first launched the Hone series we told you and everybody who would listen that Hone was about experiments and new projects that we used to push ourselves beyond our knowledge and skill set. We also told you that Hone wines wouldn’t be repeated, because we ideally just got comfortable outside our comfort zone.

What we probably should’ve anticipated is that we’d stumble on something exciting and want to do it again. And, then we’d want to use the same label that everybody loved. So whoops.

That said, we haven’t been static in our execution of carbonic fermentation. We’re still pretty new at it, and we’re learning more about it and how to maximize its benefit and further its integration into our wines. So, this third bottling still represents a marked evolution in our execution. We’re very much is the most “complete” version yet. It’s not as distinctly carbonic-y as the first, but it is more integrated and connected through the mid-palate.

Hooky was our first attempt at making wine similar to a French Beaujolais Nouveau, but with a Meeker twist of course! We used an Italian grape varietal, Dolcetto (which is certainly not French!) and put the grapes through a full carbonic maceration to prevent an otherwise tannic red grape from becoming a big, tannic red wine. The result is a light bodied red wine, with plenty of bright, juicy fruit and a crisp freshness on the palette.