Honeymoon 2022
Varietal:
55% Colombard, 45% Chardonnay
Alcohol:
12%
Vinification Notes:
Colombard and Chardonnay harvested separately. Both pressed immediately, settled overnight, and then racked off gross juice lees to ferment in neutral oak barrique. We taste the juice lees during racking to determine how much to include (discarding overly bitter-tasting lees) and then re-distribute the lees evenly across all barrels. Aged in barrel, unracked on fine lees, for 6-months before blending. Once blended, the wine aged for an additional 3-months in neutral oak barrique prior to bottling. Unfined. Unfiltered. Sediment expected.
Vineyard:
Colombard from Ricetti Vineyard, Redwood Valley, Mendocino County; planted in 1948; head-trained, dry-farmed (non-irrigated), certified organic vineyard; gravelly loam soils.
Chardonnay from Hawkeye Ranch, Redwood Valley, Mendocino County; dry-farmed (non-irrigated), practicing organic vineyard; gravelly loam soils.
Martha's Notes
The star of our Honeymoon is the 70+ year-old Colombard from the dry-farmed, head-trained vines at Ricetti Vineyard. When young, Colombard can throw a large crop and has largely been written off as a blending/filler grape, or has been used traditionally for distillation into cognac. However, with old vine age, dry farming, and by allowing a long hang time, Colombard can be as complex as its parent, Chenin blanc. The Honeymoon, to me, is always a layered wine, where I try to achieve some tertiary characteristics alongside brightness and fruit. Barrel fermentation, lees contact, and longer elevage to achieve these layers once again. Alongside Ricetti Vineyard Colombard, Honeymoon 2022 features dry-farmed, organic Chardonnay from nearby Hawkeye Ranch. Though not quite “old-vine” yet, these massive bilateral cordon-trained vines planted in the 1970s are farmed organically by Pete Johnson and family, 5th generation grape and pear growingers, and well positioned for many years of production ahead.
Production Notes
Production: 380 cases
At Bottling:
(June 2023): 12% alc/vol · Free SO2 3 mg/L, Total SO2 28 mg/L · Less than 1 g/L sugar (dry) · All wines are vegan
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