2009 Dry Riesling, McFadden Farm, Potter Valley
History
This year’s Riesling really shows off the terroir of the vineyard, with its chalky, rocky soil. It is one of the most aromatic Rieslings we’ve ever made, with a beautiful floral nose backed up with the wonderful mineral and stone character that balances the Riesling fruit. This wine is made in the style of the dry white wines from the Alsace region of France, an area that produces some of our favorite European white wines.
We’ve searched long and hard for a good vineyard from which to make a Riesling, and our search ended when we found the vineyard tended by grape-grower Guinness McFadden. In this Potter Valley location, the nights are quite cool and the days relatively warm, allowing the grapes to ripen slowly while developing lovely, complex flavors. We were excited that Guinness had many years of experience growing both grapes and herbs organically on his farm, which fit in perfectly with our desire at Dashe Cellars to have minimal handling of our grapes and wines.
Production
The vintage in 2009 produced some of the best grapes in a decade, with wonderful aromatics and flavor components completely in balance. As was typical with this vineyard, the grapes were picked in mid-October—one of the last vineyards we harvested. We gently pressed the fruit in our Italian grape press for almost three hours in order to intensify the fruit flavors without extracting any harsh seed tannin.
After pressing, the juice was allowed to settle prior to being racked into a small variable-capacity stainless steel tank. We used the native yeasts to conduct the fermentation, and allowed the wine to ferment at room temperature—a departure from our former cool-fermentation technique. The new technique worked beautifully, resulting in more mineral aromatics and a wonderful pale color. The fermentation stopped just as the wine was reaching dryness, so the wine has just a hint of sweetness at its finish. We kept the wine on its yeast until just before bottling. After fermentation, it was kept in its stainless steel tank, filtered to remove the yeast and particulate matter, and bottled in late February.
Production Notes
| Production: | 331 cases (750 ml) |
| Release date: | April 1st, 2010 |
| Sugg. retail price: | $20 suggested retail |
| Aromas: | Extremely aromatic nose of floral notes mixed with chalky mineral and earth, mixed with apricot and orange citrus. |
Tasting Notes
| Color: | Wonderful clear pale yellow |
| Taste: | Pear, apple, apricot, and peach, minerals, earth, with a touch of spice, this wine has a velvety texture, great balance, and a clean, spicy slightly sweet finish. An ideal wine to accompany spicy foods. |
