On the nose this wine shows aromas of dandelions, lemon biscuits, fresh cut hay, and toasted almonds. On the palate this wine has flavors of lemon curd, ripe tart green apples, and mouth-filling almond cream, finishing with tropical hints of wild ginger and lemon zest. It has a fine mousse, and crisp acidity that carries the persistent ripe fruit flavors.

The grapes for this wine come from our organically farmed, CCOF certified, Winery Estate Vineyard. We sourced the fruit from block 3A, first time for sparkling, and block 2B. The fruit from block 3A was notably riper and provided bold fruity characters. The fruit from block 2B was high in acid and brought structure and balance. The fruit was picked at first light and delivered to the winery very cold.

It was immediately loaded to the press whole cluster. Pressing was very gentle, under 0.6 bar pressure, to minimize solids and extraction of any bitter compounds from the skins. The chilled juice was settled for 2 days before being racked of solids to another stainless steel tank to begin fermentation. We inoculated the juice with a combination Spark and X-16 yeasts. The Spark was used to ensure a quick and complete fermentation under difficult conditions. And the X-16 was used to accentuate the fruity esters in the fermentation. At about 12 brix approximately 40% of the blend was racked to neutral oak barrels and the rest continued fermentation in tank. The barrel portion was stirred on the lees and allowed to go through partial malolactic fermentation to provide creaminess and complexity to the wine.

The wine was aged for 4 months in neutral oak barrels. The 60% of tank fermented wine was kept in stainless steel to avoid any malolactic fermentation preserving its fresh fruity character. The finished base wine was tirage bottled in February 2020, just before the COVID outbreak. The tirage bottling employed a traditional Prise de Mousse yeast to ensure complete fermentation and make the fine bubbles. The wine was set down on tirage for 3 years to create its bubbles, soften the acid, and integrate the yeast. The wine was disgorged after 3 years, and no dosage or sugar was added. The ripe fruity characters and moderate acid levels allowed us to leave it as is, brut nature. No animal derived compounds were used in the production of this wine.

• Alcohol: 12.5%
• Titratable acidity: 7.5 g/L
• Residual sugar: 0.08 % (nature)