2015 "Bonebrick"

Rosé, 75% Grenache / 25% Viognier  

The Midnight Run

Every year in late summer you begin to keep an extra close eye on your grapes as they ripen.  Testing their sugar content nearly every day until just the right time to pick.  It's a lot like waiting for a child to be born.  When it's time, it is time.  Nature doesn't wait until it can conveniently fit itself into your schedule.  On Monday, August 24th, we got the call from our grower that it was time.  The grapes were right where we wanted them. Averaging 24° brix, the vineyard crew would be picking the grapes the following day. 

By this time we had moved production to our new facility in Healdsburg, CA.  The vineyard, where these grapes are grown, is a 4-hour drive away and harvest was at full throttle keeping our winemaker, Kevin, busy 10+ hours a day, 7 days a week.  The obvious solution would be to just have the grapes shipped.  There are essentially 2 ways to do this.  The first option is to schedule a dedicated truck.  Truck goes to pick up, grapes get loaded and driven straight to our facility.  But this option is very, very expensive and doesn't make financial sense for just 1 ton.  The second and more economical option is by hitching a ride with other shipments on a truck heading out our way.  But that means the grapes would travel during the heat of the day, making one stop after another, baking in the hot sun until they finally arrived at the winery.

So we went with plan "C".  The next day, Kevin rented a truck and coordinated an evening pick-up of the grapes with the grower.  Leaving from Sonoma at around 8pm, Kevin called his close friend in Sacramento, Mark Taylor, and asked if he wouldn't mind tagging along in case any extra help was needed.  Hesitant at first, Mark asked: "Who the hell sells grapes at 2:00 in the morning?"  After a brief explanation of the situation and a little convincing, Mark happily agreed.  They arrived at the vineyard at around midnight and had safely loaded the grapes onto the truck by 1am. Transporting the grapes in the cool evening air, Kevin dropped Mark back off in Sacramento and arrived to the winery at 4:30am.  Kevin took a brief nap in the truck as he waited for the cellar crew to arrive.  By 6am, everyone was ready to start.  The grapes were unloaded, sorted and crushed to tank by 7:30 that morning, and Kevin was back at work by 8am.

THE VINEYARDS

These grapes were sourced from the David Girard Estate on a vineyard perched on the hilly slopes that rise above the American River Canyon.  The soil is comprised mostly of sandy decomposed granite.  This particular section of the vineyard is littered with large weathered stones that collect and retain the heat from the sun during the day, which they then radiate back onto the vines during the cool evenings.  The rocky hillsides provide excellent drainage for the vines, producing grapes that are complex and well structured.  We couldn't be happier with the grapes grown on this site.

THE PROCESS

Field blended, the grapes were crushed and destemmed on August 25th.  After 24 hours of skin contact, the juice was pressed to a stainless steel tank for primary fermentation.  We kept the tank cool during fermentation, never allowing the temperature to exceed 60 degrees.   Fermentation was complete on September 10th and the wine was transferred to neutral french oak barrels. 

We decided not to inoculate the wine for secondary fermentation, and opted to see what the wine wanted to do on its own.  It proceeded to go through malolactic fermentation naturally and we began a daily sensory evaluation of the wine to see how far we wanted to let it go.  We loved the bright acidity of these grapes and didn't want the wine to soften too much and become flabby.  So we halted the secondary fermentation at 50% complete.  Little decisions like this make or break a wine.  The result of this decision has been one we will never regret.  The wine was cellared for an additional 4 months in barrel.  We bottled 45 cases on February 2nd, 2016.

THE RESULT

Breathe in, and aromas of peach and apricot dominate the nose.  On the palate, the fruit continues to take center stage, only now they are rounded out by notes of white flowers and crisp minerality.  The finish is clean and dry with no residual sugar or lingering sweetness. 

the details

Alcohol:  13.9%

pH:  3.18

TA:  0.72g / 100mL

Cases Produced:  45

Price:  $20