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This wine is a new-world conception of a our mythical ideal old-world wine….a California wine with a spiritual connection to Friuli, Italy and Graves, France. And OH MY! 6 EXTRA MONTHS OF BOTTLE AGE AND THIS WINE IS DRINKING CRAZY GOOD NOW!!!
The wine is a blend of Sauvignon blanc (59%), Ribolla Gialla (28%), Semillon (5%), and Tocai Friulano (8%). The Sauvignon Blanc brings a clean fresh citrusy acidity. The Ribolla gialla gives a unique minerality, nuttiness, and structure to the blend. The Semillon contributes viscosity and the ripe fig and beeswax character that adds gravity and weight. The Tocai Friulano adds spicy aromatic notes.
The acidity and fruit expression is balanced by the rich lees character and the sweetness of the oak. There is interplay in the wine between lightness and richness, and focus and complexity. The Ribolla Gialla, with its weight and slight tannic grip, ties the wine together and brings a dimension of length and interest.
The fruit was very lightly whole-cluster-pressed. All four varieties were co-fermented in 30% new Boutes barrels, and left on its lees, with occasional stirring, until bottling, never racked—to prevent losing aromas to oxygen. Several of the 15 barrels went through spontaneous malolactic fermentation, which is encouraged. After nine months of barrel aging, the wine was filtered to prevent further malolactic fermentation, and then bottled. The pH is 3.19, the TA is 7.0, and the alcohol is 12.7%. 366 cases were made.
The Vineyards-
The three vineyards are all in the cool southern part of the Napa Valley.
The Sauvignon Blanc comes from Ryans Vineyard, which sits on a streak of gravel in the center of the valley floor. It is right in the path of the daily wind current that pulls up through the valley from the San Francisco Bay towards Calistoga. California native grasses are planted under the vines to compete for moisture and nutrients and encourage the roots to forage down deep in the gravelly soil. The strong Sauvignon Blanc (“white savage”) vines work hard to make intense flavors, and the cool breezy afternoons and evenings preserve the intense acidity.
The Ribolla Gialla and Tocai Friulano are from Elsa’s Vineyard, in the mouth of Napa’s Dry Creek canyon. The rocky fluvial soil and cool air drainage of the canyon work well with the variety. Ribolla Gialla is a 13th century variety from the Collio region of Italy and Slovenia. It is the indigenous grape of Friuli, and it is a passion that we share with George and Elsa Vare, who introduced this varietal to California.
The Semillon is from 60 or 70 plus year old vines in the Yount Mill Vineyard in Yountville. They are head trained and dry farmed, and are so old and gnarly that in 2009 the sugar only reached 18.5 brix, helping to naturally keep the alcohol moderate while lending incredible viscosity to the wine.
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