Esoterica

North Coast

Vineyard Source   Suisun Valley

Quantity Produced: 108 cases (12 x 750ml)

Date of Bottling: November 9, 2010

Chemistry at bottling:  pH: 3.36    Total Acidity: 6.4 grams/liter   Alcohol: 13.8%   Free SO2: 25 ppm    Total SO2:  63 ppm

This is the first time I have made Sauvignon Blanc for our new Esoterica label. It is a great first-this is a wonderful wine. I wanted to make a Sauvignon Blanc with a very different style. Many of you may remember the luscious buttery SBs that I made many years ago; this is NOT that! This wine is clean and austere, flinty and crisp-an explosion of all the good things that Sauvignon Blanc can be without "winemaker interference" and not made in the typical "big California style." To accomplish this, I chose a vineyard in Suisun Valley whose grapes I have used in many projects over the years, and have always liked. This Sauvignon Blanc vineyard is a Musque Clone, a genetic clone that has a propensity for producing linalool (great Scrabble word), which is the flavor compound that gives Muscat grapes their distinctive character. I had the grower choose the least ripe grapes in the vineyard, as I wanted them to have good maturation time on the vine, but didn't want high sugar. Once we got the fruit into the winery, I used a press regime that pressed the grapes very, very gently, so as to pickup the least amount of phenolic compounds and bitterness. I chose to do a cold-fermentation at 51 degrees, so it was consequently quite slow. We bottled almost immediately after the end of fermentation, which prevented the loss of any of the bright fruity fermentation characteristics. This was an interesting wine to make and is a nearly perfect wine to drink. Enjoy!