Winemaker Notes
Asian pear, nectarine and cherimoya aromas waft from this delightful and delicate Aligoté; a beautiful, complex, calm wine, rarely found planted in California. Bright, focused, round and succulent, with flavors of white peach, lemon curd and mineral, then a creamy, lingering finish. Yummy.
Production
Our two tiny parcels came about on Mt. Harlan when we grafted 330 vines over to Aligoté in 2004 and 2007; lesser known in California, this is the “other” white varietal originally from Burgundy. Finally we received a decent rainfall after five years of drought. The growing season was close to ideal although a littler earlier than average. The warm sunny summer led to a full lush ripeness in the Aligoté vineyards. The grapes were hand harvested and the whole clusters pressed immediately upon arrival at the winery. The juice was racked by gravity to neutral barrels following overnight settling. Barrel fermentation with indigenous yeasts was followed by a complete malolactic fermentation. Aged without racking in neutral oak and stainless steel barrels for six months, the vineyard lots were combined prior to bottling and the wine was bottled with a very light filtration.