This Napa wine is party mix of grapes with origins in France and Italy: Sauvignon Blanc (55%), Ribolla Galla (25%), Sémillon (15%), and Tocai Friulano (5%). The fruit was barrel fermented in one-fifth new oak and did not go through malolactic.
It’s exuberantly floral, like field flowers in late summer, and its concentrated fragrance of yellow fruits and yellow peels is burnished by honey and green almond. Its body is nutty, too, like golden lemon tea soaked in honey, but this is a savory honey, maybe acacia or chestnut. Ample texture and slight tannic astringency add depth, and the finish is both saline and sweet.
There is a lot going on here, but the wine’s various aspects—yellow, brown, brine, flowers, fruit, stone, acid—stitch together seamlessly. My notebook summarizes: “Sweet Honey in the Rock.”
12.5% abv | $40 (sample)
Tasted at the winery on 14 June 2016.
Three consecutive vintages of this wine have been totally convincing. The “kitchen sink” white blend is a variable product, but this one is excellent and top of the heap. That’s from a dedicated Sauvignon hater.
If poured blind, this wine would likely confound most Sauvignon Blanc haters.