Winemaker Notes:
Summer in a glass – or to be more exact the 2016 vintage is
showing some lovely stone fruits, banana, strawberry and fresh lemon, there is
a very pleasant lavender/honeysuckle honey character that accentuates the
floral/herbal characters. Additionally
there is a slight fresh grass note that blends well with the fruit notes. The wine finishes with a rich creamy texture
while maintaining the bright lemon citrus tones. A very well balanced wine summarized as lemon
cream pie, or summer in a glass.
Vintage:
2016 started with a warm February flowing into a very warm
March. Unfortunately, April arrived with
extreme cold causing frost damage throughout the state. The rest of the spring warmed back up to
normal conditions. Overall the summer
months were average for Virginia
without many extremes. Unfortunately,
again, the fall showed up with two major storms (Hurricane Matthew is one) and
dropped a significant amount of water.
Some parts of the state saw record inches. The 2016 was not without its challenges;
however, with diligent work in the vineyards and picking the best harvest dates
we were able to pull in some good grapes.
Blend
62% Vidal blanc, 38% Traminette
Harvest
The Vidal Blanc was harvested on 17 September 2016 at 24.1
Brix, .460g/L TA and 3.65 pH. The
Traminette was harvested on 13 September 2016 at 20.9 Brix, .4316g/L TA and 3.74
pH.
Vineyard Source:
Wessex
Hundred, Williamsburg, VA
Fermentation
The Vidal Blanc was fermented under cool conditions for 41
days (long slow fermentation) with BA11 yeast in stainless steel. The Traminette was fermented under cool
conditions for approximately 2 weeks with QA23 and Exotics Yeast
Aging
The wine was aged in stainless steel tanks and drums
Bottling Date
15 March 2017 – 960 cases
Release Date
16 June 2017
Technical
Information
12.80% Alc.
3.40 pH
0.680g/L TA
1.60% RS