Mixed 4-pack of White Wine

Winery: Vintone; Farmstrong; Poseidon Vineyard; Obsidian Ridge

Bottle Size: 750ml

Number of Bottles: 4 bottles

Vintage: 2017; 2017; 2018; 2019

Varietal: Chenin Blanc; White Blend; Chardonnay; Sauvignon Blanc

Appellation: Mendocino County; Suisun Valley; Carneros; Kelsey Bench Lake County

Vintone 2017 Sterling Ranch Mendocino County Chenin Blanc, 1 Bottle

Sterling Ranch is located in an eastern section of the Ukiah Valley, referred to as the Talmage bench. Planted in 1980 on well-drained and gently sloping Pinole soils at an elevation 690 feet.

Vintone aims to craft wines with a purity of expression that tell a unique story of the vineyard site and the season. Winemaker Sean Foster has been crafting wines of exceptional quality for 25 years, wines which he is very proud of. Sean has grown extremely fond of the individuality of a vineyard site in each and every vintage. This has led to the development of his own personal winemaking style, where these qualities are the focus of his wines and shared as Vintone.

vintonewines.com

Farmstrong 2017 Suisan Valley Field White, 1 Bottle

The Farmstrong White Field blend is fragrant yet a little mysterious, a mélange of white peach, star fruit, Mirabelle plum and even a shiso/Meyer lemon tart. It’s fresh, vibrant and alive — a dancing lemon drop enjoyed under the light of a full moon.

This wine is a year round white wine, pretty and inviting on the nose, round and full mid palate, while still being light on her feet, she is easy to get along with and super well rounded.

Winemakers Notes: The 2014 is a blend of Grenache Blanc (41%) from Roger King’s Ledgewood Vineyard, and Albariño (35%) and Verdelho (24%) from Babcock Vineyard, both located in Suisun Valley.   

Both vineyards and all three varieties were picked and pressed as one lot to add complexity and integrate the components for a dynamic blend. 

The lot was a native fermentation and it was carried out at cool temperatures allowing for a slow and steady fermentation that lasted over a month.  After dryness the wine was aged in neutral French oak and received lees stirring. The wine was then left to settle until it was bottled in the summer.   

These vineyards sites and varieties all play an important role in forming this blend. Kings site allows the Grenache Blanc to fully mature at lower ripeness, thus developing complex aromatics and soft tannins while retaining vibrancy. The Babcock site has a large diurnal shift which allows for incredible acid retention in the Albariño along with that maritime influence so important in classic Albariño sites. The site also provides enough daytime sunshine to ripen the Verdelho to express its tropical and stone fruit side while maintaining vibrancy and focus.

In addition, I am picking each variety at markedly different ripeness levels, using my favorite characteristics of each variety to work together achieve harmony and depth as a blend.

Farmstrong Wines

Poseidon Vineyard 2018 "The Bench" Chardonnay, 1 Bottle

TASTING NOTES The Bench Chardonnay routinely strikes a balance between ripe fruit character with a subtle brush of oak and the bright, natural acidity that Chardonnay grown in a cool spot exhibits. The 2018 rendition captures this part of our vineyard perfectly, with aromas of apples and lemon and a touch of tropical star fruit. In the mouth, the texture is zippy, with a balanced, bright acidity and flavors that reflect the aromatics plus a touch of spice: star anise and cinnamon. Medium-long length leads to a clean finish.

HISTORY The maritime environment of the Carneros grape-growing region delivers cool, foggy mornings followed by warm days that slowly nurture ripening. This seaside influence is particularly acute at our Poseidon Vineyard; one can see the masts of boats bobbing in the water just a few steps to the south. The prominent feature of our vineyard is the gravelly, geological “Bench” - the elevated, rocky, former riverbank of Carneros Creek - that runs serpentine through the center of the site. From this unique geological feature spring some of our most distinct, small-production wines.

VINTAGE As the impact of the 2011-2017 drought continued to fade, the growing season was characterized by moderate temperatures. Fruit development was gradual, without stress, and uniform. But as harvest got underway, temperatures varied dramatically, creating a nerve-wracking stop-start, wait-versus-race dynamic for the crews and cellar. Attention and experience in the vineyard proved critical during this stretch. While wildfires created havoc in other parts of the state, the Poseidon Vineyard was entirely unaffected. The harvest was one of the most generous and flavorful crops in recent memory.

WINEMAKING The fruit was pressed whole-cluster in small batches and then barrel-fermented in 20% new, 300-liter barrels that were lightly toasted specifically for this wine. These special, larger-format barrels provided all the good things that barrel fermentation brings to Chardonnay: full body and sweeter flavors. The unique low toast of the barrels ensured that the fruit aromas and flavors would shine through. A special yeast strain was used to promote a long fermentation, adding a new level of complexity to this wine. Lees stirring after Malolactic fermentation was employed to boost the smooth, elegant texture.

Farming the extremes. In 1973, we planted Poseidon Vineyard on what had been grazing land since the time of the missionaries. We were among the first to farm the southern extreme of Napa Carneros, which at the time was considered too cool to ripen wine grapes.

Poseidon Vineyard is the heritage wine project of Obsidian Wine Co. We seek and farm the extremes of the North Coast. This is our story.

Where vineyard meets the bay. Poseidon Vineyard lies at the confluence of Carneros Creek and the Napa River. At high tide the river tastes of salt, a reminder of the sea’s proximity. Pacific wind brings fog and cooler temperatures to balance the intensity of the California sun, while clay and gravel soil provide ideal drainage for our vines.

We exclusively use barrels made from tight-grained Tokaj oak by Kádár Hungary, the cooperage we have owned for three decades. This is one of a handful of places in the world where Quercus Petraea, an oak species highly prized for its enticing aromas and subtle oak influence, is grown.

A balanced approach. Through four decades of growing, three decades of coopering, and two decades of winemaking, we have created our own unique
expressions of California Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.

poseidonvineyard.com

Obsidian Ridge 2019 Obsidian Ridge Sauvignon Blanc - 1 Bottle

TASTING NOTES A quiet but fulsome bouquet of orange blossom, lemon-lime citrus and candied lemon peel greets the nose, with an herbaceous nuance of marjoram. This medium-weight Sauvignon Blanc has notes of honeydew melon, Valencia orange, glycerin and a clean finish awash in wet slate. Try it as a stand-alone aperitif or as a pairing with hard cheese or shellfish.

HISTORY The land surrounding our Obsidian Ridge vineyard has a long tradition of growing the classic Bordeaux varietals, among them Sauvignon Blanc. As inquisitive growers incessantly searching for a new challenge, we are now experimenting with this varietal. We vinified a small batch that has proved worthy of sharing.

VINTAGE The 2019 growing season got off to a wet and cool start, but a moderate summer allowed for normal vine development and a slightly above-average sized crop. As the summer progressed, the vines made up for some of their late start. A comfortable fall allowed for longer hang time, good fruit maturity and excellent flavor development. The harvest started with a leisurely pace and quickened at the start of October. As a precaution against wildfires, our cellar was in the power company’s blackout zone, throwing the crew for a loop. But our outage was short, and proved harmless to the ongoing fermentations - it was one of the few sources of anxiety in an otherwise textbook season.

WINEMAKING Grapes were harvested in the cool pre-dawn hours and pressed whole-cluster upon arrival at the winery. The juice was kept cold in tank throughout the fermentation process, which lasted several weeks. We bottled the wine only a few months after harvest in order to preserve the clean, bright flavors and lovely aromatics of this varietal.

Obsidian Ridge: The New Frontier for Cabernet Sauvignon. Forged in a volcano; some said this land could not be planted. We had faith in the endless potential of an old abandoned walnut orchard, 2,640 feet above sea level, high in the Mayacamas Range. We have sought higher, rockier, and farther places to grow grapes, source oak, and build wines that are complex, nuanced, and delicious. A new expression of California Cabernet Sauvignon. Made by inspiration, not recipe. If you seek new frontiers in wine, join our journey.

In our vineyard, we follow the Code of Sustainable Winegrowing Practices and are Fish Friendly Farming certified. The Tokaj forests where our barrels are coopered have been sustainably managed since 1769 by decree of the Empress Maria Teresa of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, requiring selective logging and systematic replanting. In our solar powered winery, we follow traditional and natural winemaking practices. We are family and employee owned - ensuring consistency, stability and long-term generational sustainability of our sources and practices

obsidianridge.com