Appellation:
Shenandoah Valley
Winemaker Notes:
Our 2024 Aria is a blend of our estate Viognier and Roussanne wines, each made as a separate batch, a lot of extra work! The Viognier was harvested August 15, picked cool early morning off the field then immediately whole cluster pressed using a special gentle bladder press, chilled to allow solids to settle, then cold fermented over 3 weeks in egg-shaped “Apollo” Flextanks. These Apollo tanks have the advantage of creating a convection of gas going up along the edges of the tanks and rolling down the center that constantly stirs the juice and lees solids that normally would sit at the bottom to extract maximum flavors and enhance aromatics. Our Roussanne grows in our cooler lower bowl and hangs longer on the vine, enhancing flavors, harvested in mid September. No oak was added and no secondary ML fermentation for a crisp fruit-forward style.
This wine traveled offsite for bottling to a winery specializing in champagne method, which involves adding small doses of yeast and sugar to ferment and generate the tiny bubbles, “riddling” the bottles moving the solids into the neck and disgorging the solids by freezing the neck wine solid with dry ice. The champenoise method takes 6 months, instead of a shortcut “Charmat” which would typically take 2 weeks. This wine delivers well on enhanced flavors and super-fine bubbles.
Vineyard Notes:
Our Estate Viognier and Roussanne grow together on a steep hillside at 2,000-foot elevation in the granitic and volcanic soil of our vineyard estate in the Shenandoah Valley. They are both grafted on special drought-tolerant rootstock, allowing them to dig deep into the soil for water. These two thrive in the warm daytime breezes from the Central Valley and cool Sierra evenings, a 30-degree swing in temperature, a climate similar to that of Northern Rhône.
