2024 Cadre Beautiful Stranger

With the temperatures soaring shockingly high this month, I couldn’t wait to open a bottle of something chilled, and loaded with citrus and minerality.

That it came bearing a beguiling name just sealed the deal.

I’m talking about a sample bottle I received of the 2024 Cadre Beautiful Stranger of which you’ll definitely want to make its acquaintance.

It’s a blend of 60 percent Gruner Veltliner, 30 percent Sauvignon Blanc, and 10 percent Albarino grapes harvested from the San Luis Obispo Coast and Edna Valley.

Cadre Wines was founded in 2020 by third-generation vintner John Niven and his wife, Lucy, who took out a second mortgage to do so. His grandfather Jack Niven planted the historic Paragon Vineyard in the Edna Valley AVA in 1973, one of the first vineyards in that region that pioneered the production of cool-climate varietals.

Now, John and Lucy Niven have followed in those footsteps, making it their mission to produce unoaked, cool-climate aromatic white from California’s coolest grape-growing region with their vineyards planted just two miles from the Pacific Ocean.

Read more