10/07/2025
The 2025 MAHA Estate Release is live!
We are people of the Autumn. While most of the natural world finds itself winding down for a good, long rest, here on The Maha Estate we find ourselves most alive. It’s the time of year when the ocean influence manifests itself in a blanket of heavy morning fog over our little canyon, when Red-tailed Hawks begin their spiraling dance above the vineyard to attract mates, and when the vineyard finally gifts us with the fruit that it has been composing over the past year. As you read this, we are only about 30% into harvest, a testament to the temperate summer that graced us this growing season. The slower pace has given us more time to reflect on and appreciate the quality of the fruit coming off the land that we have been farming for the past decade. Whether you have joined our tribe recently or have been with us for a good, long while, we thank you for enjoying our w**es and sharing in this journey.
While we celebrate Autumn as the season of soups and sweaters, we also rejoice in introducing you to the latest release from The Maha Estate, w**es crafted with fruit exclusively from the land that we call our home. These south-facing slopes, energized by the sun and nurtured by the clay and the limestone beneath them, have been developing a terroir that grows more distinct with every year that the vines mature.
The 2025 MAHA Estate Fall Release features the 2023 Before Anyone Else, 2022 Understory, and 2022 Backlit, and, as always, features the beautiful art from the incomparable mind of JoAnn Cherry. 2025 marks the 10th harvest off The Maha Estate, and these w**es celebrate the rhythm of the land in which they were grown and put forth an expression of the varietals that we have always hoped to achieve.
We have seen some very kind words (and scores, for that matter) from the world’s top w**e writers over the last year. Below are a few standouts.
“The production sizes are small, but the quality is high with MAHA w**es. Developed from the Villa Creek vineyard in the far western canyons of Paso Robles, MAHA is farmed biodynamically and crafted for energy and texture. As well as making the more familiar range of Rhône varieties, MAHA now bottles a shockingly good Clairette Blanche, and makes sure w**e lovers know that they were the first in the region to do so. They are also experimenting with a sparkling version that shows good promise. W**es in the range are savory, energetic, and sophisticated with subtlety. Over time, co-founder-w**emaker Cris Cherry has developed a more finessed and mouth-watering style that still delivers the incredible flavor of Paso Robles.”
The W**es of California, Elaine Chukan Brown
“The 2022 Maha estate w**es are pure elegance. Cris Cherry leads the Maha project, sourcing from the estate vineyard planted in 2012. As of 2022, it is now officially certified regenerative. The 2022s show more focus on fruit than in previous vintages. The Before Anyone Else, a varietal Clairette Blanche, is an immediate standout, a deeply textural w**e yet full of energy. The two Rhône Blends, Backlit and Understory, show this site's potential. Cherry commented that being no-till helped a great deal in 2022, retaining moisture in the soils despite the dry warmth of the season. Any way you slice it, the 2022s are a wonderful success for such a warm season.”
Eric Guido, Vinous
“Through both the Maha estate site and the Villa Creek label, proprietor Cris Cherry and w**emaker/vineyard manager Oliver Mikkelsen crafted some of the region's prettiest, most elegant and understated w**es from the 2023 vintage. Maha is dedicated solely to the estate property in Adelaida District, which now holds the trinity of vineyard certifications: Demeter Biodynamic, CCOF Organic and ROC Regenerative.”
Matthew Luczy, The W**e Advocate
It is with gratitude and thanks that you continue to support our family business! What we do, we do with thought and intent to present to you the best w**es possible—w**es full of energy and pleasure. Without folks like you, our business would not exist. We look forward to enjoying a glass with you here at the MAHA Estate or in your neck of the woods in the near future.
Cris, Camille, and Henri Cherry, and W**emaker Oliver Mikkelsen
Read more about the w**es of this release and order from your allocation here: https://www.villacreek.com/collection/2025-maha-estate-release
