2020 Chenin Blanc
Tres Hermanas Vineyard
Santa Barbara County
Alc. 11.0 % by vol.
The Vintage:
Overall we saw a typical growing season, until late August early September, which began a series heat waves. Just before the second heat wave, we decided to harvest the grapes as to not encounter any further damage. There was very little heat damage to the grapes, just a few berries got a little zapped. Grapes harvested on September 12, 2020, at 19.8 brix.
The Process:
The grapes were hand harvested at night and brought to the winery in the early morning. We dump the fruit into the bladder press and run the press cycle for about 3 hours, or as long as the juice does not taste bitter. The pressed juice is pumped directly to a steel tank and settles for two days. It is racked to four neutral French oak barrels for fermentation. We let the juice naturally ferment over the course of 5-6 weeks. Around the three week mark, we consolidate the four barrels down to three. From here we top every two weeks and let the wine evolve. The wine is then racked super clean to tank and bottled unfined and unfiltered.
The Wine:
First give the bottle at least 30 minutes to open up, or even let sit in the glass for 5-10 minutes.
Additional Notes:
This vintage we selected the two favorite barrels to produce the Chenin Blanc. The other barrel was used to make our "White Wine" bottling
No Sulfur was added or used at any point for this vintage
No stirring of the barrels