Nose
Aromas of ripe apricots and peaches emanate from the glass.
Palate
Notes of honeysuckle, apple and citrus awaken the palate while its creamy, chalky minerality give the wine a round, pure finish. Overall a fresh, bright Sauvignon Blanc that is pleasing alone or married to edibles.
Growing Conditions
This one acre vineyard was planted over 30 years ago on the south side of the estate in volcanic, rocky soil. The Sauvignon Blanc clone chosen at the time of planting is very rare and comes from the Loire Valley in France. Over the past 15+ years, the vines received no water during the growing season and have established extremely deep root growth.
It was a wet winter going into the 2016 growing season. We are accustomed to working with limited amounts of water due to years of drought conditions. But this year we were worried about abundance. Strategic planning on the part of our vineyard team, and Biodynamic farming, has always seen us through the trying times and 2016 had us on our toes. Despite early season warmth and rain challenges, once we hit ripening season, harvest had great weather for hanging fruit to reach full maturity; not too hot, not too cold, just enough to achieve ideal flavors and balance.
Harvest
Our grapes were harvested at dawn.
Winemaking
We finished the block and the grapes were on the Crush Pad in minutes. The fruit was whole cluster pressed and the juice was gravity fed into small stainless steel barrels for fermentation. We used a concrete “egg” (stone vessel) to ferment a portion of the juice-which is blended before bottling. We feel this process gives the wine a beautiful stoney, minerally texture to the mouthfeel.
Aging
The wine sat on its lees for six months, a process which gives the wine some weight and depth to the acidity, then moved directly from the original stainless barrels to bottle.
