desire line (n): a path forged off the main trail; a path made by the one walking it.
“This is another set of exceptional wines from Desire Lines and proprietors Emily and Cody Rasmussen… the wines are done in a transparent style aimed at capturing the essence of site, vintage, and variety. Readers who have not checked out these wines yet absolutely should do so.” – Antonio Galloni, 2023
“One of the new producers (to me) whose wines showed very well in my tastings was Desire Lines Wine Company, who sent me primarily Rieslings and Syrahs to sample. I had never tasted any of Cody and Emily Rasmussen’s wines previously and I was very, very impressed. I am so happy that Cody dropped me a note in early January to ask if I would be interested in tasting the couple’s wines and grateful that he sent such a wide range of bottlings to savor.” – John Gilman, View from the Cellar, March 2024
It’s an honor to be back for BerserkerDay 16 after we were newbies last year! This year, we’re going even bigger (literally…) with our BD offer: yes folks, it’s an offering of never-before-released MAGNUMS with ground shipping included! This includes all our 2023 Rieslings in epic hock magnums (name a taller or cooler bottle, we dare you…), our 2023 Evangelho Red Wine from a once-in-a-generation vintage, our first vintage of Sky Vineyards Syrah for Desire Lines, and a few older library wine rarities. Quantities for all these magnums are extremely limited and available only in honor of the amazing Berserkers community on Berserker Day.
We’re particularly excited about being able to offer our Rieslings in magnum format, in part because it’s such a beautiful bottle shape, and also because hock magnums and their content boxes are so notoriously difficult to source. We were fortunate to stumble on a small cache of un-used hock magnums locally thanks to a dear friend, and bought enough to bottle tiny quantities of especially precious wines. The whole process, from sourcing to shipping, is nearly prohibitively expensive, but we’re thrilled to share these wines.
Offer #1: Desire Lines Magnums with Shipping Included
2023 Cole Ranch Riesling 1.5L, Cole Ranch (24 available) - $100
2023 Massa Vineyard Riesling 1.5L, Carmel (12 available) - $100
2023 Wiley Vineyard Riesling 1.5L, Anderson Valley (12 available) - $100
2023 Evangelho Vineyard 1.5L, Contra Costa County (18 available) - $100
2018 Fred’s Home Block Mourvèdre 1.5L, Contra Costa County (29 available) - $100
2022 Sky Vineyard Syrah 1.5L, Mt. Veeder (24 available) - $150
2018 Lichau Hill Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 1.5L, Petaluma Gap (9 available) - $150
Offer #2: Desire Lines Mixed Six-Pack with Shipping Included
1- 2023 Desire Lines Cole Ranch Riesling, Cole Ranch AVA1- 2023 Desire Lines Massa Vineyard Riesling, Carmel AVA
1- 2023 Desire Lines Kick Ranch Sauvignon Blanc, Fountaingrove AVA
1- 2023 Desire Lines Evangelho Vineyard Red Wine, Contra Costa County AVA
1- 2022 Desire Lines Winds of Change Syrah, California
1- 2022 Desire Lines Lichau Hill Cabernet Sauvignon, Petaluma Gap AVA
Price: $200/6-bottles
How to Order
We use an allocation system that requires a login to order. Any questions reach out to Emily – (707) 494-1667 or emily@desirelineswines.com
- Existing Mailing List Members: [Log in here]
- New Signups: [Sign up here], then click “View Offering”
Shipping Details
Ground shipping is included in this offer. Wines will ship as promptly as possible, weather-permitting. If you would like a specific ship date, please let us know in your order notes. 2nd Day Air rates may apply if shipping to AK and HI. We cannot ship to DE, MS and UT. If you do not see your state listed at checkout, please contact us for assistance.
Our Story
The short version of our story is that we’ve known each other since childhood, growing up in rural Northwest Iowa. We started dating at 16, then fell in love with wine during Cody’s college study abroad in Rome. We moved to Sonoma in 2011 as 22-year-old newlyweds with the hopes of working in the wine industry. Now, Cody is the Director of Winemaking Operations at Bedrock Wine Co., and Emily is the Executive Director of Historic Vineyard Society and runs her own wine communications business focusing on mailing list releases for a number of wineries that you know and love. We live in Sonoma with our sons Caleb and Drew and golden retrievers Maya and Murphy.
You can read in-depth about each of these wines on our website in exhaustive (I daresay exhausting) detail via our release letter archive here. But, in the interest of brevity on this day of celebration:
All our wines are from vineyards that we think are truly remarkable and utterly singular, which is the sole focus and mission of Desire Lines - wines that speak of a place, and a time, and a farmer, from some of California’s most iconic vineyard sites. We aim to make neo-classical California wines of grace and beauty that are vibrant, age-worthy, and delicious. Where possible, we prefer old vines to younger plantings, and thoughtful farming is a non-negotiable.
Cole Ranch and Wiley Vineyard are both among the oldest Riesling vineyards remaining in California. Cole Ranch is head-trained and dry-farmed in a narrow mountain valley in remote Mendocino County, planted in 1973. Wiley Vineyard is own-rooted in the cool and maritime Deep End of Anderson, planted in 1976. Massa Vineyard is an historic vineyard set in the wilds of northern Big Sur, first planted in 1968; the few rows of Riesling were planted in 1993.
Evangelho Vineyard is one of California’s finest vineyards thanks to its own-rooted old vines planted in the 1890s in a regularly windy climate, farmed with great love and care by Bedrock Wine Co. Kick Ranch is a cool and exceedingly rocky site in the Mayacamas Mountains north of Santa Rosa, yielding extraordinarily precise and vibrant Sauvignon Blanc. Lichau Hill Vineyard is one of the coolest (literally and figuratively) Cabernet Sauvignon vineyards in California, planted on the west side of Sonoma Mountain in the Sonoma Coast / Petaluma Gap. And, our Winds of Change California Syrah is our love letter Syrah planted in the Golden State and our back-up-the-truck, can’t miss value wine.
Hooray, hooray for BerserkerDay!
xoxo Emily & Cody
