Brand story
Jonata Fénix
Fenix is Jonata's Bordeaux-variety blend, and its name — Phoenix — speaks to renewal and resilience, which is fitting for a wine grown in sand. Ballard Canyon was not obvious Bordeaux country when the estate was planted in 1998, and the Careaga sandstone that defines it drains fiercely, forcing vines to work. That struggle, combined with a diurnal swing of forty degrees or more, is what lets the fruit hold acidity while phenolics ripen fully — the source of the concentration and mineral tension that runs through every Jonata wine.
Merlot leads here, and deliberately so: the current release is 78% Merlot with 17% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Cabernet Franc, all estate-grown, aged 20 months in 45% new French oak. Each block is picked and fermented separately across more than a hundred lots, and only blends with a voice distinct enough to demand bottling are made. The Merlot brings sumptuous dark fruit, wild and exuberant — blackberry, mocha, clove — while the Cabernet Sauvignon supplies structural integrity and a regal frame; beneath sit dusty earth, porcini, graphite and black plum. Dark, generous and velvety, wrapped in cocoa-powder tannins, and built to reward the cellar for well over a decade.
