As the harvest of 2009 comes to a close I find myself in a nostalgic state of mind, reflective of the intense year that we’ve just experienced. In this time we nervously launched a winery, opened our barn to visitors, sold out of our first vintage and managed to carve ourselves out a small niche in the local wine scene.
In a recent radio interview, I was asked to shed a little more light on this experience. You can listen to it here.
2008 Sauvignon Blanc:
Crafting aromatic white wines requires good fruit, patience and above all temperature control! In small wineries like ours we aren’t afforded the luxury of temperature-controlled tanks to aid in maintaining the ideal fermentation conditions. Instead, my barrels of 2008 Sauv Blanc went on a merry-go-round tour of our barn for about a month until ferment was over. First outside to settle after pressing, then inside to warm for yeast inoculation, quickly into the cold room as the the ferment really starts to rock, back out of the cold room to finish-up as yeast start to become stressed, finally back into cold room at 4 Celsius to stop ferment at the desired sugar-acid balance.
I decided to use a yeast called X5 for this wine because it boasts to “help reveal varietal aromas rich in citrus, boxtree and tropical fruit while contributing light fresh floral notes”. In the early stages it was apparent that X5 was the right choice. I was impressed with the lychee and pineapple aromatics that got stronger with each successive day. There was still some classic cool-climate Sauv Blanc citrus (lime zest) detectable as well, with hints of vanilla, fig and flint. The use of older French oak barrels was most evident on the palate, softening the edges of this zesty wine. Bottled on September 14th, 2009.
Cases: 64 Alcohol: 12.0% Price: $25/bottle