Nose
This Brut displays beautiful, fragrant aromas of pear, honeydew and apricot.
Palate
Uplifting citrus flavors and fine bubbles are wrapped in crisp acidity, yet the round, creamy mouthfeel that comes from the wine’s years of lees contact persists through a lingering finish. Overtime, the sparkling wine will continue to develop complexity. It is a winery exclusive.
Growing Conditions
This vintage will be remembered for high quality, but low yields. The 2015 growing season started out with unseasonably warm temperatures in the late winter and early spring. This resulted in an early bud break and bloom. Colder temperatures in May (during the peak of bloom) caused uneven fruit set which ultimately resulted in a much smaller crop in 2015, compared to the three abundant years that preceded it. As a result, our winemaker worked hand-in-hand with our vineyard crews and also employed new technologies, like optical sorting, to ensure we picked and crushed only the best quality grapes.
The coolest appellation in Napa Valley, Carneros features the ideal climate for growing the varieties found in sparkling wines. During the growing season, temperatures are moderated by persistent morning fog, cool afternoon breezes and the adjoining San Pablo Bay. In a typical day the sun burns off fog by late morning and temperatures rise quickly, but at the same time hot air rising above the Central Valley is replaced by cool air funneling through the Petaluma Wind Gap off the Pacific Ocean. The combination of sunshine and cool temperatures results in a slow ripening process that produces grapes
of great natural acidity – ideal for sparkling wine varieties such as Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. The grapes for this wine were grown in some of the finest vineyard blocks on our Estate Vineyard. These blocks allow the grapes to ripen fully while retaining their natural acidity. The gravelly soils here are markedly different than the shallow, heavy clay which prevails throughout Carneros. Our 20-year old vines produce aromatic, highly concentrated grapes which express their place of origin with a distinct minerality.
Harvest
The harvest was one of the earliest on record in Napa Valley, beginning on July 31st with the picking of grapes for our sparkling wine program, and concluding for us October 22nd. While ongoing drought was of great concern, we were fortunate to have received enough rain in the winter to fill our reservoirs.
Winemaking
Produced using the “methode champenoise” or the “traditional method,”
this sparkling wine comprises the two varietals most commonly found in Champagne: Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. 80% of the blend was fermented and aged in stainless steel tanks, while 20% of the wine was fermented in
and racked to neutral French oak barrels for aging. After the “assemblage” or blending of the wine, it undergoes a process known as “tirage” or secondary fermentation in bottle to capture the natural CO2 produced from fermentation. The wine rested “en tirage” for four years before disgorging.
