Bichi No Sapiens Tinto Tecate 2024

Bichi No Sapiens Tinto Tecate 2024

Bichi Wines
$32.00

Grape: unknown local red variety (believed to be a rare strain of carignan or mission)
Vintage: 2024
Type: Red

Sourced from a secret, dry-farmed vineyard of old bush vines in Tecate, Baja California, this single-parcel cuvée comes from unidentified vines planted in granite-rich, sandy clay soils at 1,000 meters elevation. Noel Téllez hand-harvests the low-yielding fruit, processing it naturally with minimal cellar intervention. The whole clusters undergo spontaneous fermentation with indigenous yeasts in open-top cement vats, utilizing a short maceration to extract fine tannins and bright varietal aromatics. The wine ages in neutral oak casks and stainless steel before being bottled unfined, unfiltered, and with zero added sulfur. This is an earthy, high-altitude Mexican red defined by raw vitality, crunch, and rustic clarity.

A pale, hazy ruby-garnet hue introduces expressive aromas of wild raspberry, sour plum, damp terracotta, blood orange zest, and dried sage. On the palate, focused flavors of tart cranberry, pomegranate, rhubarb, and ground clove are carried over a light, fluid frame. Supple, fine-grained tannins and a bright, driving line of natural acidity give the mid-palate an energetic, mouthwatering tension. It concludes on a clean, bone-dry finish marked by lingering notes of crushed stone, bitter orange peel, and dried desert flora.

Winery

Bichi was founded in 2014 by Noel Téllez and his family in Tecate, in the mountains of Baja California. The family comes from Sonora, and the winery’s name means “naked” in the Sonoran Yaqui language. Early collaboration with Louis-Antoine Luyt helped establish a project devoted to the area’s old and sometimes overlooked vineyards. Bichi farms its own land and works with small growers around Tecate and the Valle de Guadalupe, emphasizing organic cultivation, dry farming and the region’s varied grape heritage.

Misión, Rosa del Perú, Palomino and other varieties tell a different story of Baja California from the region’s more conventional international blends. Grapes are handled gently, with wild-yeast fermentations in vessels including locally made concrete tinajas, followed by aging in neutral barrels or steel. The wines are generally bottled unfined and unfiltered, with little or no sulfur added depending on the cuvée. The playful luchador labels introduce wines whose real character comes from sandy and granitic soils, mountain vineyards and the people preserving them.