Absolutely. Thanks Emily!
Thanks Michael, and, here goes…the focus of this should really be on our meter by meter spaced Estate Vineyard, there’s obviously a huge amount of site specific details…but the gist of it is, that we believe that tight spacing and smaller vines, in our dirt and our climate, will produce superior grapes. The vineyard is a few hundred feet from the winery, grapes are picked at night and immediately the press is loaded.
The wine press is a hugely important step of the process. We have a 3 ton, membrane style press that kicks ass. Fully programmable, very few solids, optimal juice extraction at low pressure. We separate the press fractions based on chemistry and taste, and only the good stuff goes to the sparkling program.
The Pinot Gris is fermented and aged in small stainless steel tanks, the Pinot Noir is fermented in stainless and aged in 500L used oak puncheons. We then construct the three vintage wines - the Blanc de Gris, Blanc de Noir, and the Grand Cuvee, a blend of the two. We cold stabilize, and tirage bottle unfined and unfiltered.
The 2012 Blanc de Gris was aged for 29 months on the lees, the 2012 Blanc de Noir for 32 months, the Grand Cuvee 36 months and counting. The Blanc de Gris is a little bigger and broader, very citrus-y, with a neat, spicy, herbaceous fennel/pea shoot character. The Blanc de Noir is really tight right now, but it’s more finessed, compact, brighter. It’s got big time berry fruit and toast…but it could probably do with a few months of just calming down, it’s much better on the second day being open right now.
Can’t wait for you to try them!