The wine world seems obsessed with achieving, recognizing, and describing a balanced wine. And you bet the word balance comes up often when we sit around a table tasting Rule of Three out of the barrel as we did, once again, a few months ago in the Uco Valley. This trip's focus was on our 2013 vintage just prior to bottling, as well as our 2014 vintage which was 5 months in barrel at the time. So what's the obsession with balance? And, should balance even be the goal?

Good questions. The obsession with balance is likely a result of necessity - the need to offset the "burn" from higher and higher alcohol levels in wine produced from ultra-ripe grapes. Big, bold fruit is needed to re-balance (or hide) the relationship with alcohol creating a favorite among the critics. Too often, however, the critique stops there - once this balance is achieved, success is declared and the expectations of something more are abandoned. We believe there is a higher goal.

So what could be more desirable than achieving balance? We believe harmony is that higher goal. Harmony builds on and transcends balance. Harmony integrates where balance aligns. Picasso said, "The hidden harmony is better than the obvious." Balance is the obvious, leaving a deeper hidden harmony that needs to be experienced rather than described. Harmony creates something more than the sum total of a wine's elements. To borrow from the poet Rumi, beyond the tasting notes of mere flavor descriptors and measured balance, there is a field called harmony. We will meet you there.

Click through the above video to experience the harmony of an Uco Valley sunset and a special announcement. We can't wait to share our wine with you.