A wine made from Pinot Gris that straddles the line between orange wine and rosé, this is a layered and complex wine that acts as a fun introduction to skin contact wines.
Variety: 100% Pinot Gris
Vineyard: Clarabec Vineyard
Location: Sonoma Valley, CA
Alcohol: 12.2%
Production: 400 cases
A wine crafted to be fresh and vibrant, east drinking, yet with layered nuanced complexity. A fun introduction to skin contact wines, with savory notes that pair very well with food, but many enjoy on its own as well. A love child of orange wine and rosé, this is a gentle introduction to orange wine, with savory layers offering structure and tannin and a taste uniquely its own.
Pinot Gris was destemmed and crushed to maximize skin contact, and left on the skins in open small ¾ ton bins for the start of fermentation. Fermentation occurs naturally with indigenous yeast, with no additions or cold soak, with two punchdowns a day. After 5 days, the wine was pressed off the skins into neutral French oak barrels without settling to finish primary fermentation, then native malolactic fermentation for 6 months total elevage. The wine remained on heavy lees for 5 months, unstirred until racking 1 month before bottling with no fining, filtration or additions.
The Clarabec Vineyard is the estate of Isaac Clarabec, 4th generation grape grower, who also manages an extensive number of vineyards in Napa and Sonoma. The vineyard was planted ~30 years ago, on their estate, in a cooler section of Sonoma Valley-climate being in paet why Pinot Gris was selected to plant. Soil is classic Sonoma gravel and loam, formerly an ancient creek bed, that left a lot of gravel, great for drainage. Organically farmed.
