Wine with a Pulse

Hardy Wallace did not grow up in wine. He was born in the "Dirty South" — hence the nickname and the blog Dirty South Wine — and worked in technology sales in Atlanta in the early 2000s. [^55^] The job offered ample opportunities to taste expensive bottles at fancy business dinners, but when the economic downturn hit, the dinners became less fancy and Wallace had to find wines that were more affordable yet still pleasant. "It's much harder to identify a good Cru Beaujolais or a wine from the Rhône. Because I was forced to cut my budgets, these were the wines I started to get acquainted with — and eventually fell in love with them," he recalls. [^55^]

In 2009, Wallace entered a contest to win "A Really Goode Job" — a year-long stint as social media manager at Murphy-Goode Winery in Napa Valley. [^55^] His directness and humour won him the opportunity, and he moved to Napa for what was his very first job in the wine industry. After six months, he went on to work with several other winemakers, including Kevin Kelley from the Natural Process Alliance and Salinia. [^55^] He started a wine blog and met food blogger Matt Richardson, who helped him shoot the application video. The two became friends, and in 2010, Wallace proposed a partnership: "I couldn't afford to make the wine on my own, so I went to Matt and said, what if we go in on just two barrels of wine — which means only having to purchase a ton of grapes — I can't promise the outcome, but I think trying could be worth it." [^55^]

The duo originally wanted to make Muscat, but the vintage turned out awful and the grape wasn't available. They ended up with Mourvèdre — a bold red variety typical of southern France rather than California. [^55^] Wallace, a lover of silky Cru Beaujolais, did things his own way: whole cluster fermentation with native yeast, foot treading, no temperature control, and bottling without filtration. "I did things that nobody would do with Mourvèdre back then, but you know what, when the wine was finished and bottled, it was delicious," he laughs. [^55^]

The name Dirty & Rowdy came from their nicknames: Dirty was Hardy, Rowdy was Matt. [^55^] Matt's brother Marcus, a graphic artist, created the labels — playful, witty, and different for every cuvée. "There is serious wine inside, but with a joyous spirit behind it," Hardy explains. [^55^] The project grew rapidly. By 2013, Wallace had quit his day job to become a full-time winemaker. The "Familiar" range was born that same year — red, white, and later skin-contact wines made to be enjoyed with family at the table. [^55^] Production peaked at over 6,000 cases, with 90% sold directly to consumers through their wine club. [^56^]

2017 was the "Plagues of Egypt" vintage for Dirty & Rowdy. [^55^] First, Hardy suddenly lost his sight at the very beginning of harvest. He regained it two weeks later, but every day counts during picking season, and they were already seriously behind schedule. Soon after, a heatwave hit with temperatures climbing to 114°F (46°C). Hardy's brother-in-law decided to come and help, but tragically died in a car crash on his way to Calistoga. And then, as if there hadn't been enough disasters, the wildfires hit. Hardy, his wife Kate, and their daughter had to evacuate, leaving the winery and wine in the middle of fermentation. [^55^]

Upon their return a week later, they found all the wines either stuck mid-ferment or with ridiculous levels of volatile acidity. With their insurance claim denied, they had to finish the wine to find a way out: restarting stuck ferments with added yeast, removing volatile acidity with reverse osmosis, filtering. [^55^] Techniques Wallace would otherwise eschew. To mark the atypicality of the vintage, the wines were labeled "Unfamiliar" — the opposite of their regular "Familiar" programming. "These trials made us examine who we are, why we do what we do, and what is most important," Hardy wrote to his fans. "With these reflections, we are stepping into 2018 stronger, more compassionate, and more resolved in our mission to make wines that are beautiful, joyful, and worth passing on." [^55^]

But 2020 brought another round of wildfires, and production dropped to just 8,100 bottles — a fraction of the normal output. [^55^] The strain of running a high-volume direct-to-consumer business, combined with diverging visions, led to the partnership's dissolution in September 2021. [^56^] Wallace and Richardson parted ways amicably. "I wish Hardy the very best with his new venture," Richardson said. [^56^] Wallace, along with his wife Kate Graham, launched Extradimensional Wine Co. Yeah! — a smaller, more experimental project of about 800 cases annually, with less emphasis on single-vineyard wines and more on blends from disparate California sites. [^56^]

Dirty & Rowdy's legacy is significant. It proved that California Mourvèdre could be light, elegant, and terroir-driven rather than heavy and extracted. It built one of the largest direct-to-consumer natural wine followings in the country. It introduced a generation of drinkers to whole cluster fermentation, skin-contact whites, and the idea that wine could be both serious and joyous. The wines that remain in cellars and on back vintages lists are time capsules of a moment when California natural wine was finding its voice — raw, electric, and utterly alive.