This blend of 82 percent Sauvignon Blanc, 14 percent Sémillon, 3 percent old-vine Sauvignon Vert, and 1 Muscat Canelli hails from vineyards in Rutherford, Napa, and Chiles Valley. The fruit was hand-harvested at night to preserve acidity, and three quarters were whole-cluster pressed, with the remainder de-stemmed and treated to a short skin contact. About half of the must fermented in French oak (mostly neutral), about 40 percent went to stainless, and the rest was put into concrete egg. Malolactic was suppressed.
The robe is pale yellow with the scent of green fruits and peels, plus a pleasing spring-day grassiness. The body is quiet, shot with silky filaments of green melon and musk. But this wine is, overall, more about its structure than its fruit, with its armature of acid and tracery minerals plus that square-jawed Sauvignon profile. A wine with flare and polish.
14.4% abv | $25 (sample)
