2018 Wessex Hundred
Viognier
Winemaker Notes:
This wine sports some very tropical notes of pineapple,
mango, and orange along with some fresh lemon zest. With the tropical notes there is some dried
apricot, peach and rhubarb. There is also
a nice floral aspect that almost verges on perfume. Just behind these fresh fruit notes is a
creamy caramel/honey and vanilla aspect that creates a pleasant dimension to
the wine. The finish is long and clean
with the tropical notes coming through and then it flows into that creamy vanilla. Grandmothers pineapple upside down cake in a
bottle.
Vintage:
2018 started out with very cold temperatures in January and
continued throughout most of the winter.
The cold weather was followed by an unusually wet spring. Some rains coming when the vines were beginning
to flower, an important process in the grape development and a time when heavy
rains are not wanted. The summer was consistently
hot and humid with the humidity never seeming to abate. The fall started out with drier conditions allowing
for some good grape development and then towards the mid and later part of the
fall the rains returned. Overall a hot,
humid and wet vintage that Mother Nature throws at us occasionally to test the
fortitude of the growers and winemakers.
Blend
100% Viognier
Harvest
The Viognier was harvested on 29 August 2018 at 23.9 Brix, 4.10
pH and .505g/L TA.
Vineyard Source:
Wessex Hundred,
Williamsburg, VA
Fermentation
The Viognier fermented for 19 days in stainless steel with Rhone
4600 Yeast.
Aging
51% Stainless Steel Tank, 34% Acacia Wood, 15% Concrete Egg “Sheldon”
Bottling Date
1 May 2019 – 505 cases
Release Date
September 2019
Technical
Information
13.7% Alc
3.80 pH
0.670g/L TA
0.03 RS (dry)
