Description
These vines, planted in 1980, are a throwback to a more rustic time in California grape growing. Quadrilaterally trained and utilizing the “California sprawl” trellis, these old vines still thrive in the silty Mendocino County soils outside Ukiah. Minimally intervened with and farmed organically, the vines year in and year out produce some of the most outstanding Chenin Blanc in the state.
The grapes for this wine were hand-picked intentionally at lower brix, foot-tread, and left on skins for up to a day before being pressed and settled overnight. Fermentation took place in a mix of neutral French Oak barrels, stainless-steel barrels, and a concrete egg, and the wine was then aged on lees 12 months, and in tank (off lees) for 3 more. The resultant wine has beautiful, vibrant acidity, and excellent phenolic structure with notes of honeycomb, lemon curd, and lanolin.
- Country: United States
- Region: California
- Appellation: North Coast
- Size: 750ml
- Color: White
- Alcohol by Vol: 13.0%
Varietal
Chenin Blanc
Originating in France yet now grown in many parts of the New World, Chenin Blanc is one of the most versatile and highly regarded white wine grape varietals on earth. These green skinned grapes hold a relatively high acid content, and as such can be used for making still white wines of exceptional quality, as well as superb sparkling wines (such as the Crémant wines of the Loire Valley) and extremely aromatic dessert wines. Their natural transparency means that they are a fine grape for expressing their terroir in the bottle, and winemakers often experiment with this varietal to coax unusual and intense flavors from the grapes, such as allowing the development of noble rot on the fruit in order to make sweet and viscous wines of a unique character.
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