2023 / Willow Creek District Ternary

2023 is the first vintage for Ternary, a GSM blend that leads with Syrah as the dominant variety at 70% and rounded out with Mourvèdre (20%) and Grenache (10%). This is the more powerful of the Decemil blends, with solid acidity and strong but balanced tannins on the finish.

The 2023 Ternary was painstakingly curated with organic farming practices, small-batch winemaking and a reverence for site expression

A blend of Decemil’s Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre blocks
Calcareous limestone and clay loam
Elevation range of 1,015 to 1,300 feet
12 miles from the Pacific Ocean
Organically farmed vines

Vinification

A special selection from three 228-liter French oak barrels
10-day cold soak followed by tank fermentation with pumpovers and délestage
Aged for 15.5 months in an average of 23% new oak
Selected and blended at the 6-month mark of aging
Returned to barrels for 10 additional months of maturation

Analysis

Alc. 14.6%
TA .57
PH 3.62
Cases 130

2023 Willow Creek District Ternary

Tasting
Notes

Ternary comes from a Latin word signifying “three at once”—a fitting moniker for this threefold cuvée of Syrah, Mourvèdre and Grenache. The inaugural 2023 vintage reveals a Syrah-driven bouquet of lavender, plum skin, cranberry, anise and garrigue. Primary fruits of black cherry, mulberry and briar berry saturate the palate while releasing secondary accents of truffle, mineral, caramel and loam. On the finish, gravelly textures and buoyant acidity speak vividly to the estate’s calcareous limestone soils.

Reviews, Kind Words &

Accolades

Blackberries and mulberries are silky yet grippy, underpinned with a quiet bass note of umami before a palate of richness and definition. Flavors of bruised plums with pits, bramble, nutty steeped tea, dried scrubby herbs and incense ride through a mineral-flecked finish. Drink or hold.

—94 points, Brian Freedman, jamessuckling.com / September 2025

The 2023 Ternary reveals darker berry fruit, cedary herbs, pepper, flowers, and gamey notes. It's beautifully complex, medium to full-bodied, has a lively, elegant mouthfeel, and a great finish…………. this complex, satisfying, textured 2023 will drink well over the coming decade.

—93 points, Jeb Dunnuck, jebdunnuck.com / August 2025

The 2023 Ternary mixes sweet sage with ashen stone and black raspberries. Expressive on the nose, it offers cool-toned acidity and depths of ripe red and blue fruit offset by a sour citrus tinge toward the close. While only gently tannic, it leaves the palate drenched in primary concentration as a hint of licorice fades.

—92 points, Eric Guido, Vinous / June 2025