A blend of vintages, this Vermouth has spicy nutty flavors alongside more vibrant fresh fruit characteristics. A little sweet balanced with bitter freshness. Serve chilled on its own or add to a favorite cocktail.
Variety: Flora, Viognier
Location: Napa Valley, CA
Alcohol: 17.0%
Production: 415 cases
Batch No. 6 is a non-vintage solera blend of the 2016 through 2021 vintages. The older wine gives the dried fruit and spicy-nutty flavors, and the younger wine is more vibrant with fresh fruits. To complement the natural grape aromas of the Flora, they made infusions of their home-grown blood oranges and sour cherries, along with Organic coriander seed that they purchased. The infusions were made in a base of high-proof neutral grape spirits. The bittering was mainly done by adding an infusion of their home-grown cardoons and wormwood, but they also purchased chinchona bark and Organic blessed thistle to infuse for a little more complexity. The No. 6 makes a great Boulevardier, Blood and Sand, Negroni, Manhattan, or even better, can be served neat as an aperitif or to accompany dessert.
The grapes were fermented whole cluster in open-top fermenters with manual punch downs twice a day. Fermentation stopped naturally, with 120-170 grams per liter of residual sugar remaining due to the high brix when the wine was pressed into used barrels. Barrels for aging are a mix of French oak that previously held Matthiasson’s white wines, and 25-year-old French Cognac barrels. The infusions were added into the wine right before bottling.
Flora is a rare variety bred at UC Davis in the 1950s to be a base for fortified wines. Flora is a natural cross between Semillon and Gewurztraminer. Each year the fruit is picked very late, with some botrytis and raisins at harvest. For the Vermouth No. 6 a small amount of Viognier was also used, harvested as raisins and fermented whole cluster.
