2023 "Cuvée Esmé Anne" Chenin Blanc | NEW!

100% Chenin Blanc

The grapes for this wine come from Junius Vineyard, which was planted in 1980 and is set up with a quadrilateral cordon system that was popular in those days. It is one of the few vineyards in the area that we source from that is irrigated. The vineyard is situated on a northwest slope on the east side of the Ukiah Valley. The soils are the famed pinole series, which are well drained and with moderate vigor. The vineyard is finally farmed organically for us at our direction. The berries on the cluster are very small, which gives us intense flavors.

Cuvée Esmé Anne has inviting aromas of toasted hazelnut, flint, pink peppercorn, river rock, and fennel. The palate is laser-focused, building with vibrant energy to reveal luscious layers of Meyer lemon, comice pear, apricot, candied ginger, and a zesty twist of lime. A long, lingering finish brims with mineral and saline notes that’ll have you reaching for another sip. It’s a symphony of texture and depth, yet bright and refreshing—an irresistible combination. Like a treasure hunt for your senses, each swirl reveals something new. Fair warning: it’s dangerously drinkable, so let it breathe a bit before diving in for optimal enjoyment.

This wine shines alongside dishes with bright flavors and fresh textures: fish tacos, oysters, salads, and grilled foods are all perfect partners.

It seems that the most critical elements to make a Chenin Blanc in the style that we are after are: complete fermentation, plenty of acid but not sharp, and no oxidation or oxidized aromas. Everybody says they pick their grapes at the perfect time, but to us that means picking as soon as the fruit has a hint of ripe flavor, which in this case is at about 20 brix. We picked the block in two passes six days apart. The second pass was from a weaker section to the east and ended up coming in only slightly riper than the rest of the block. In making this Chenin we always want to protect the wine from oxygen to avoid the “forward” aromas of wet wool or linalool. We whole-cluster pressed the grapes as soon as they got into the winery and avoided skin contact. We pressed very lightly to a stainless-steel tank, added 10ppm sulfur and settled at cellar temp for 24 hours. The hard press wine was kept separate and not added back. After settling, we racked the juice with the light lees to another tank and warmed it up to initiate fermentation naturally. Once the fermentation started to tick, we transferred the juice to new and used Stockinger 228L and 600L barrels. After 11 months of aging in oak on the lees without stirring, we assembled the lot and racked the bottling blend to stainless barrels for an additional 9 months of aging for the wine to rest and tighten up. There have been no additions to this wine except accurate amounts of sulfur used during aging. We did not fine or filter this wine. This wine will gracefully evolve over the next several years if stored correctly.

Production: 125 cases | ABV: 12.93% | TA: 6.7 g/L | pH: 3.11 | VA: 0.47 g/L | DCO2: 925 ppm | Total SO2: 79 ppm | RS: 0.92 g/L | Turbidity at bottling: 4.0 NTU

Download a technical data sheet here.

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