Winemaker Notes:
This is our fourth vintage from Rancho Llegado. Typical for the Arroyo Seco appellation, wind, fog, and cool temperatures predominate year round. The Rancho is carefully farmed to assure the specific ripeness, a balance of sugar, and the acidity, that we are looking for. A long growing season and temperatures that rarely rise above 80 ̊F create an ideal spot for such a wonderfully aromatic wine.
Having tried it both ways, we now choose to mechanically harvest versus handpicking. The added skin contact time while in transport to the winery boosts the aromatics and savoriness of the wine. Once at the winery, grapes are pressed then cold settled for 72 hours before the fermentation is allowed to begin. Fermentation this vintage lasted 50 days at 52 ̊F
The 2021 is completely dry. This is the first time in nineteen vintages of making this wine (there was no 2020) that there has been zero residual sugar. 2021 was a moderate year temperature-wise and harvest came a little later than we initially expected. Despite that, acids were still lower than our historical expectation and consequently, the drier version of this wine works well. The end result is a still a subtle, but distinctly aromatic wine that is true to the variety.
