Gold Medal/90 points - 2023 Orange County Wine Competition
Notes of lemon peel, apple blossom, and crushed stone. Fine bubbles accompany apricot and papaya flavors with a clean finish.
Tasting Notes:
Our 2021 Sparkling Grenache Blanc has notes of lemon peel, apple blossom, and crushed stone. Fine bubbles accompany apricot and papaya flavors with a clean finish.
Winemaker Notes:
Our traditional method (Method Champenoise) sparkling wine at Robert Hall. Harvested on 8/31/21 the grapes were whole cluster pressed, only using the free run for our sparkling base wine. We went on tirage 1/23/22, adding sugar and yeast to the base wine in bottle to begin our second fermentation. Bottle fermentation and aging for 11 months until disgorge 12/5/22. Brut in style with 5 g/L residual sugar.
Varietal Notes:
We believe Grenache Blanc from Paso Robles a great match for both sparkling and still wines. When making sparkling acid balance is extremely important, in our experience Grenache Blanc delivers the acidity and maturity to make well balanced wines, our base wine was no exception.
Food Pairing:
Oysters on the half shell, charcuterie, passion fruit pavlova; Cheese: chevre, gruyere
Vintage Notes:
Vintage 2021 began with an encouraging mild start and lower than average rainfall. Bud break and bloom were a couple weeks later than average, setting the growing season back slightly. Temperatures rose significantly in August, shortening the seasonal delay. Heat waves plagued the season from August to October, with temperatures over 110°F for extended periods of time. Harvest began on August 17th, with white wines showing great quality despite the heat. At the end of one of the warmest vintages in Paso, we have found wine flavors and quality to be very good with excellent concentration.
