Vintage Summary

The Santa Lucia Highlands of Monterey County stretch from Salinas in the North to Arroyo Seco in the south, and flank the western mountain benchlands of the salad bowl of the world, the great Salinas Valley. It’s the land of the perpetual mild climate, foggy mornings followed by windy afternoons, and importantly, facing east to avoid the harshest conditions of the California sun. We work with the Gularte Vineyard which is located at the northern end of the Salinas Valley on River Road. The 2021 growing season was relatively mild, much like 2018, with a few key differences. We had less than average rainfall for the winter months, and budbreak started in late March. Mild spring and early summer conditions were ideal for flowering but only a small crop set. Most of the summer was above average in temperature and the grapes ripened fully by the beginning of September for a harvest on September 13, 2021.

Winemaking

The grapes were picked by hand, sorted in the field. At the winery the grapes were sorted into two lots, one completely destemmed and the other 66% whole cluster. Pumped over twice daily, pressed after a 10 day fermentation. Elevage in old (10 years) barriques for 7 months. Racked to stainless a month before bottling. Unfined, unfiltered. Bottled April 16, 2022. 190 cases produced.

Wine Stats

Brix at harvest: 22.5

Titratable Acidity: 5.9 g/L

pH: 3.74

Residual Sugar: 0.0 g/L

Alcohol: 12.9%