Matanzas Creek Helena Bench Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc

Whole-cluster harvested in the beginning of September, the Sauvignon blanc from Helena Bench is fermented in an array of fermentation vessels. After some overnight soaking in the press to extract flavor and aroma precursors, the juice was gently pressed and sent to settle in tank for two days. On the second day, the juice is racked to a clean tank, to include some fluffy lees, and inoculated with yeast. From there, the 4 different lots were separated into either concrete egg, puncheon, or barrels, or all three! After fermentation, usually lasting around 2 weeks, the barrels and puncheons were stirred during aging on the lees until blending 7 months later. The wine in the concrete egg was also stirred to kick up any lees, building a richer mouthfeel. At blending, barrels were selected to capture the essence of the Helena Bench site. ¬e resulting wine has a crisp acidity, savory minerality, and lots of fruity aromas like white nectarine and honeydew melon. For the past four decades, Matanzas Creek Winery has focused on creating site-expressive wines. Throughout the years our methodology has remained the same: utilize a range of vineyard clones and fermentation vessels, and explore new farming and winemaking techniques, to produce thoughtfully crafted, expressive, and balanced wines. Today, all Matanzas Creek Winery estate vineyards are sustainably farmed and are certified under the California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance.