New Year Means Prepping the 2020 Vintage
The new year starts not with a bang, but with a bottling of the new vintage. Our first bottling of the year will be on January 5th and includes an awesome lineup of everyone’s favorites, Sarah’s Patio White and Sarah's Patio Red, along with Mariposa and one of my favorites, the always racy Albariño Verde. I think we really captured that traditional “Vinho Verde” style with this vintage.
As we begin prepping the 2020 vintage for bottling season, the popular topic of discussion turns to “vintage variation”. This term describes what makes one growing season different from another. Variations can be caused by the amount of rainfall in one vintage versus another, temperature variations or even when a certain variety achieves ripeness. 2018 was filled with heavy rains and cooler temperatures. This left the fruit engorged with water, preventing ideal ripeness. This can lead to red wines that are lighter in color or even fruit flavors that are delicate as opposed to rich and full flavored. The opposite was true for the 2019 vintage, warmer days and afternoon showers gave the vines more time to grow and develop full flavored berries. This allowed us to make wines with intense color and flavors that truly drive home the terroir of our Locksley and Hollin growing sites.
It is still too early to make assumptions about the 2020 vintage, but we are starting to see the effects of the growing season. If you will remember, harvest started off with a fair amount of rain and cooler temperatures that slowed ripening down. This led to lower brix than the 2019 vintage, but the fruit was able achieve a physical ripeness that really captures the typical varietal characteristics. Thus far, the 2020 vintage seems to showcase a bright acidity in the white wines that leaves your mouth watering and wanting another taste. The red wines, while still very young, are full flavored and filled with tannin begging for some time in barrel. I cannot wait to start exploring the new vintage and sharing these amazing wines with our wonderful customers!
Jake Blodinger, Assistant Winemaker