The 2004 harvest was our earliest to date. Although the growing season was fairly cool, the early budbreak and light crop (2.3 tons/acre) made for an early vintage. We began picking Sauvignon Blanc on the 9th of August under ideal weather conditions and finished a mere 7 days later. The low yields gave intensely concentrated fruit, and the moderate growing season resulted in grapes with excellent acidity.
Harvesting at night and during the cool of the early morning helped to retain varietal character. Some vineyard lots were crushed and pressed after a few hours of skin contact, while others were whole cluster pressed. The juice was then fermented in stainless steel tanks at cool temperatures to preserve delicate fruit flavors. After this long slow cool fermentation, the wine was racked, filtered, and prepared for bottling. The 2004 Sauvignon Blanc was bottled entirely using Stelvin screw cap closures. This demonstrates our commitment to preserving the delicate character of this aromatic variety.
The 2004 Sauvignon Blanc is greenish straw in color and is intense in aromas of grapefruit, passion fruit and guava with hints of lime. On the palate this wine is bursting with tropical citrus flavors. This classic Sauvignon Blanc finishes with crisp and lingering citrus peel notes.
