Growing Conditions
Our 2016 Rosé was made from a combination of Grenache, Syrah, Mouvèdre, and Counoise from the Windmill vineyard in the Dunnigan Hills, Syrah grapes from the Hurley Vineyard in Napa Valley, Grenache grapes from the Gibson Ranch in the McDowell Valley of Mendocino, and small amount of Sauvignon blanc from Ryan’s Vineyard in Napa Valley.
Windmill Vineyard
Sergio Villanueva farms the Windmill vineyard for the owner Jeff Morgan under our direction and tutelage. He knows every vine practically by name, and carefully nurtures the vineyard with tremendous pride. The Windmill Vineyard is situated on pinkish gravelly alluvial soils in the Dunnigan Hills AVA of Yolo County. It is a hot climate, and the fruit ripens fast, allowing us to harvest ripe fruit at low sugar levels, keeping the alcohol moderate.
Hurley Vineyard
Sheri Hurley, with some equipment and labor help from us, lovingly tends her tiny Syrah vineyard at the base of the Silverado Trail in Napa Valley. The Hurley Vineyard is a tiny one acre vineyard alongside the Napa River growing on cool clay soils, with morning fog and afternoon breezes that swoop in most days through the Golden Gate and across the San Pablo Bay. The fruit ripens slowly and retains tremendous acidity and citrusy freshness, and is the perfect foil to the soft and broad character of the fruit from the much warmer climate Windmill Vineyard.
Gibson Ranch
These 60+ year old goblet-trained vines have seen a lot, from the deer and wild boar that walk through the vineyard, occasionally nibbling on the leaves or the fruit, to the marijuana growers sneaking by as they head up to their growing patching is the surrounding hills. The age of the vines and the warm days/cool nights make for vibrant flavors of red fruits and spice.
Ryan’s Vineyard
The Ryan’s Vineyard sits on a streak of alluvial gravel in cool mouth of Napa Valley. Native grasses are planted under the vines to compete for moisture and nutrients and encourage the roots to forage down deep in the gravelly soil. The fruit is bright, citrusy and mineral.
Winemaking
We whole-cluster pressed the grapes, settled in tank for 24 hours, then fermented and aged the wine sur lees in stainless steel barrels. To preserve the acidity we prevented malo-lactic fermentation. We kept the barrels shut tight, no topping or stirring, and the wine was never racked, fined, or cold-stabilized, but since it is ML negative it was filtered before bottling.
