Parts & Labor Red Blend 2024, Folk Machine

This is your “bistro red” in the best sense: flexible, unfussy, and happiest when there’s food involved. Pour it with steak frites, smash burgers, lamb kofta, or anything off a grill that picked up a little char. It’s also a killer match for ratatouille, roasted mushrooms, lentils with herbs, or tomatoey pasta with spicy sausage. If you’re going snack-board mode: salumi, olives, hard cheese, and something pickled will make it look like you planned the whole evening.

On the nose, the wine leans bright and savory, loaded with red cherry, wild strawberry, and a little pomegranate, plus cracked pepper and dried thyme. There’s a faint meatiness underneath (more salami than BBQ), and a dusty note that reads like warm terracotta or sun-baked earth. Give it a swirl and you’ll also catch a hint of violet and orange peel—high-toned, not perfumed.

On the palate it’s medium-bodied and energetic, with a juicy core of red fruit that stays clean and pulled-together. The tannin is present but fine. It’s got enough grip for grilled meat or mushrooms, while the acidity keeps the finish lifted and food-friendly. Syrah adds a peppery bass note, Grenache brings flow and brightness, and Carignane tightens the frame with a slightly rustic edge and a dry, refreshing close.

Parts & Labor is built as a patchwork of multiple vineyards stitched together for balance. In 2024, the blend pulls Grenache from Waddington Ranch, Mangels Ranch, and Cedar Lane, then tightens the frame with Carignane from Luechesi and Lolonis, and finishes with Syrah from Vecino and Smith Road. Each piece brings something different: bright fruit and lift, a little savory grip, and a peppery bass note. The point isn’t to sound like one place, it’s to drink like a complete, easygoing red that still has shape.

Tech Specs

• 57% Grenache, 21% Syrah, 22% Carignane

• Vineyards include Waddington Ranch, Mangels Ranch, Cedar Lane (Grenache); Vecino, Smith Road (Syrah); Lolonis, Luechesi (Carignane)

• Fermented in stainless; lots handled separately

• Native fermentations; spontaneous malolactic

• Some whole cluster and carbonic in component lots

• Aged in stainless steel & large oak foudres

About the Winery

Folk Machine is the playful, wide-open arm of Hobo Wine Company, founded by winemaker Kenny Likitprakong. Hobo is a producer with real California credibility and a very specific mission: make wines that feel honest, affordable, and alive at the table. The cellar is based in Santa Rosa, but the vineyard story sprawls well beyond Sonoma, built on long-term relationships with growers across Northern and Central California.

The connective tissue is farming and sourcing. Hobo works with a broad patchwork of vineyards and emphasizes organically farmed fruit wherever possible. The goal is simple: sites that naturally deliver balance, so the wines don’t need makeup in the winery. They also sweat the small stuff: lighter packaging choices, fewer needless extras, and support for environmental work through 1% for the Planet. In the cellar, the approach stays intentionally light-handed with lots handled separately, native ferments when feasible, and aging choices that shape texture without shouting “oak.”

Folk Machine is where curiosity gets to drive. It’s the label for grapes that don’t always get the spotlight, blends that prioritize drinkability, and wines that feel social by design. Parts & Labor is the calling card: Grenache, Syrah, and Carignane drawn from multiple California regions, stitched together for lift, spice, and grip. It drinks like a house red, except it’s more interesting, and it keeps you reaching for food, not a nap.