Emme Wines, Colombard, Redwood Valley 2023
For the first time since 2019, the 2023 ‘tell your sister’ is 100% Colombard, and I couldn’t be happier. The intent with this wine is always to showcase Colombard and how delicious it becomes when left on skins. In 2023, instead of combining the Colombard with a bit of Muscat Vert or Chardonnay, I chose to ferment just the Colombard in two separate lots for added complexity.
Picked in one go on October 6th, the Colombard was then split into two halves, 1.5 tons each. Both lots were foot crushed whole cluster in separate tanks. One lot was then left on skins for a 24 hour cold soak, to extract aromatics from the skins, but not too much tannin or color. This portion of the Colombard was then drained and pressed to another tank, where it was left to ferment until dry, then barreled down to a combination of stainless steel drums and neutral oak barriques.
The second lot of Colombard was left crushed on skins for a full week, allowing it to ferment until nearly dry on its skins. The heat and time of fermentation pulled aromatics as well as tannin and color from the skins, making the resulting wine much more orange and textured than its sister. After a week, the wine was pressed to tank, allowed to fully finish fermenting, then barreled down to neutral oak barriques.
For the first time since 2019, the 2023 ‘tell your sister’ is 100% Colombard, and I couldn’t be happier. The intent with this wine is always to showcase Colombard and how delicious it becomes when left on skins. In 2023, instead of combining the Colombard with a bit of Muscat Vert or Chardonnay, I chose to ferment just the Colombard in two separate lots for added complexity.
Picked in one go on October 6th, the Colombard was then split into two halves, 1.5 tons each. Both lots were foot crushed whole cluster in separate tanks. One lot was then left on skins for a 24 hour cold soak, to extract aromatics from the skins, but not too much tannin or color. This portion of the Colombard was then drained and pressed to another tank, where it was left to ferment until dry, then barreled down to a combination of stainless steel drums and neutral oak barriques.
The second lot of Colombard was left crushed on skins for a full week, allowing it to ferment until nearly dry on its skins. The heat and time of fermentation pulled aromatics as well as tannin and color from the skins, making the resulting wine much more orange and textured than its sister. After a week, the wine was pressed to tank, allowed to fully finish fermenting, then barreled down to neutral oak barriques.
For the first time since 2019, the 2023 ‘tell your sister’ is 100% Colombard, and I couldn’t be happier. The intent with this wine is always to showcase Colombard and how delicious it becomes when left on skins. In 2023, instead of combining the Colombard with a bit of Muscat Vert or Chardonnay, I chose to ferment just the Colombard in two separate lots for added complexity.
Picked in one go on October 6th, the Colombard was then split into two halves, 1.5 tons each. Both lots were foot crushed whole cluster in separate tanks. One lot was then left on skins for a 24 hour cold soak, to extract aromatics from the skins, but not too much tannin or color. This portion of the Colombard was then drained and pressed to another tank, where it was left to ferment until dry, then barreled down to a combination of stainless steel drums and neutral oak barriques.
The second lot of Colombard was left crushed on skins for a full week, allowing it to ferment until nearly dry on its skins. The heat and time of fermentation pulled aromatics as well as tannin and color from the skins, making the resulting wine much more orange and textured than its sister. After a week, the wine was pressed to tank, allowed to fully finish fermenting, then barreled down to neutral oak barriques.
