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Carbonic Explained

Woman dressed in trendy western wear smelling a glass of red wine
grapes syrah ton bins

A Crazy Syrah

Did you know that the car­bon­ic wine­mak­ing method orig­i­nat­ed in France? Think Beau­jo­lais Nou­veau style wines.

The style is known for pro­duc­ing red wine quick­ly, from pick to bot­tle in less than one year and this quick process results in wines that are light, fruit-for­ward, and low in tan­nins — ready to enjoy young. Beau­jo­lais wines are also often made with a base of Gamay or Pinot Noir. We’ve tak­en this tra­di­tion­al approach and infused it with a mod­ern twist, using rich, meaty Syrah and extend­ing the fer­men­ta­tion peri­od to extract bright, elec­tric fla­vors with a fra­grant, youth­ful under­tone. Pro­duc­ing a car­bon­ic wine must begin with pris­tine fruit, and the Home­stead Syrah was per­fect for the job. 

Grape Cluster, Thibido Vineyard
Josh Beckett, Carbonic Syrah, Fermentation Vessel

Anaerobic Vessel

Removing Oxygen

Unlike tra­di­tion­al fer­men­ta­tion, which involves de-stem­ming and crush­ing the grapes, car­bon­ic mac­er­a­tion begins with whole clus­ters — stems and all — sealed in a fer­men­tor. The oxy­gen is removed, cre­at­ing an anaer­o­bic envi­ron­ment that allows fer­men­ta­tion to take place inside the berries themselves.

Autovini­fi­ca­tion occurs as the weight of the whole clus­ters nat­u­ral­ly press the stems and grape skins to con­tribute to the result­ing elec­tric pur­ple hue and pleas­ing tan­nins of this wine. In many cas­es, wine­mak­ers bleed off the first juice to speed things up, fer­ment­ing for a few days to keep the wines light and fresh. Con­verse­ly, we retained all the juice in the ves­sel to ampli­fy the wine’s col­or, struc­ture, and flavor. 

carbonic cluster fermented hand
Josh, red wine, glass, smell

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The 2023 vin­tage had a unique, extend­ed nine-week car­bon­ic fer­men­ta­tion — a tech­nique that ele­vates the wine’s vibrant fruit pro­file while adding elec­tric hues of col­or, extract­ed fla­vors and draws tan­nins from the skins and stems. Dur­ing this time, sug­ars and mal­ic acid nat­u­ral­ly con­vert­ed to alco­hol, while the grape clus­ters set­tle and gen­tly press them­selves, cre­at­ing a rich juice to soak in. 

Check out that image of a car­bon­ic clus­ter post fer­men­ta­tion, it’s elec­tric and glow­ing neon pink!

Once fer­men­ta­tion is com­plete and after press­ing, the wine was then aged in 60% new French oak bar­rels to offer just the right touch of oak, adding lay­ers of com­plex­i­ty with­out over­shad­ow­ing the pure char­ac­ter of the grape.

Hands, Red Wine, Cheers, Dumplings
Wine and Food Pairing, seared tuna bowl, red wine, carbonic Syrah

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Pair this fun wine with a vari­ety of dish­es to enhance the wine’s com­plex fla­vors. Gib­sey rec­om­mends juicy pork dumplings or seared tuna bowls to play off the uma­mi fla­vors and spice of the dish­es and bring out the spice and meaty fla­vors of the Syrah. Enjoy this wine with great food and even bet­ter com­pa­ny — just because you can.

The newest vin­tage of Just Because 2023 Car­bon­ic Syrah is an expres­sive, rule-break­ing wine. Its lush, dark pur­ple hue hints at bold ripe blue­ber­ry and juicy berry fruit on the palate, com­ple­ment­ed by notes of cured meat, light spice, green olive, and a touch of graphite. The soft tan­nins and youth­ful ener­gy make this Syrah a per­fect match for any moment — whether you’re cel­e­brat­ing a spe­cial occa­sion or indulging ​“just because.”

Order Just Because ​’23