Emme Amando el Sol 2023

Colombard from Ricetti Vineyard forms the base for the ‘amando el sol’.  2023 was the slowest and mellowest growing season I’ve yet to experience in Sonoma.  Lots of rain and continuous cool temperatures throughout the winter and spring led to later bud break, flowering, and eventual ripening of the fruit.  At a vineyard like Ricetti, where the fruit ripens relatively slowly even in a warm year, this meant 2023 was a year of necessarily low alcohol – the fruit truly wouldn’t ripen past 20-21 brix.  We let it hang for a long time to mature physiologically, but when it came off the vine in early October it was still low in sugar and high in acid. Perfect for the base of ‘amando el sol’.

Once picked, the Colombard was pressed directly, settled overnight, then racked off gross lees into a stainless steel tank for primary fermentation.  After primary finished, the wine was put down to stainless steel barrels and one small concrete egg to age for 6 months.

To add some dimension and weight to the Colombard, Chardonnay from Siletto vineyard was picked in late September.  Siletto is down in San Benito county, south and inland from Santa Cruz.  The Chardonnay here ripens faster than the Ricetti Colombard, so we picked two weeks earlier and still came away with a slightly higher brix and richness to the fruit.  The fruit was pressed directly, settled overnight, racked off gross lees and fermented in stainless steel.  After fermentation the wine was put down to neutral oak barrique to age for 6 months.

In late March, the Chardonnay and Colombard components were racked out of their barriques and blended just before bottling.

Indigenous yeast fermentation. SO2: 30 total added.  No other additions, unfined and unfiltered.

‘amando el sol’ means ‘loving the sun’, an ode to bright golden Colombard fruit that ripens happily in the California heat.