Palate
Our Frank Johnson Vineyard produces cool climate Sauvignon Blanc with bright citrus fruits and alluring grassy aromatics, creating a fresh, balanced wine that lingers on the palate.
Growing Conditions
Located in the Dry Creek Valley, the Frank Johnson Vineyard is composed of loamy, slow but well-draining Goldridge soil, which keeps the terrain cool and allows long hang-time. Throughout the growing season, we tailored our work in the vineyard to balance the site’s natural ability to produce fruit with intense aromatics.
Growing season 2015 was in the fourth year of the severe drought in California. The normally rainy season between January and March was quite dry resulting in a lighter harvest and an early one. We knew mid-summer that harvest would come early, and it did, by almost three weeks. Our yields we also down this year as the harvest stressed bud break and we had fewer clusters on each vine. In some areas of Sonoma County we were down by as much as 40%! While we didn’t get as much as vintages 2013 and 2014, the caliber of the wine is just as remarkable!
Winemaking
All of the fruit was whole cluster pressed before cold barrel fermentation.
Aging
We fermented and aged the wine in neutral oak barrels and stainless steel drums to enhance texture.
