Vintage Summary

The old Wirz Vineyard was originally planted around 1900 to “mixed blacks” as Pat Wirz, the longtime farmer/owner likes to call them. The mix is the typical field blend of vineyards in the Diablo range that consist of Mataro, Carignan, Zinfandel, and the oddball Cabernet Pfeffer. However, in 1964, about 45 acres of white Riesling were planted. The San Andreas Fault runs through the vineyard, which sits at the base of the Eastern flank of the Gabilan Mountains. There are several different soil types found here. The Riesling is mostly planted on deep granitic sand, and some is on the darker clay loam that’s weathered from limestone. Dry farmed, head trained, and organic.

The 2020 growing season was nothing short of eventful and challenging. Winter was relatively dry and cool with limited rainfall until late winter, early spring. Spring was very cool, with a few frost days into May, followed by a mild early summer with a light crop forming. Mid August was the first of a few punishing heat waves around the state of California, but luckily we were spared the worst damage. Harvested September 30, 2020.

Winemaking

The grapes were picked by hand on September 30th, 2020. At the winery the grapes were given 10 days of 50% whole cluster maceration and 50% destemmed fruit in avstainless steel fermenter to extract tannins, aroma, and flavor compounds in the skins via once daily pumpovers. After pressing and settling, the wine was racked into old barrels for 18 months elevage on fine lees. Racked to tank a month prior to bottling we ever use is sulfur.  Bottled April 16th, 2022. 23 cases produced.

Wine Stats

Brix at harvest: 22.5

Titratable Acidity: 6.3 g/L

pH: 3.67

Residual Sugar: 0.0 g/L

Alcohol: 12.9%