Rays of Sunshine
Its that time of year when the weather is changing! Whether its raining or sunny this flight is a Ray of Sunshine!. Experience and explore the world of Orange WInes.
Poderi Cellario É Orange
Grapes : Nascetta, Arneis, Incrocio Manzoni.
Place : Piedmont - Italy
Process : Hand-harvested into small bins. Spontaneous fermentation with 5 days skin maceration. Aged in amphora for 6 to 8 months until bottling. Bottled with minimal sulphur (~10ppm) and without filtering or fining.
Family : Fausto and Cinzia Cellario are 3rd generation winemakers in the village of Carru` on the western outskirts of the Langhe. The family believes in only working with local, indigenous Piemontese grape varieties and fiercely defends local winemaking traditions both in the vineyard work and the cellar practices. The Cellario vineyard holdings cover some 30 ha between 5 different vineyard sites covering the southern Langhe. With holdings in Novello and Monforte, the Dogliani plot is arguably the family’s most prestigious land and I would consider them Dolcetto specialists. Vineyard work is organic (soon to be certified) and all the fermentation take place with indigenous yeasts. Sulfur is only added in tiny quantities at bottling if necessary (a practice not common with a winery in this mid-size range).
Bottle: $27 | Glass: $10
Breaking Bread Orange Marmalade
Grapes: 70% Muscat Blanc 15% Chardonnay 15% Sauvignon Blanc
Place: Dry Creek Valley - California
Process: With this vintage of the orange wine, we wanted to bring in additional layers of complexity and to experiment with other varieties. We decided to add equal parts of Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc to the dominant Muscat Blanc and once again took a delicate approach. The Chardonnay contributed more weight and complexity to the mouthfeel, while the Sauvignon Blanc brought in more acidity and higher notes.
All grapes were destemmed into the fermenter bin with zero sulfur added and we let the native yeast build up a population, which took about five days. From there we allowed it to go another five days fermenting on skins, for a total of ten days on the skins, making for more balanced phenolics.
Family: My interest in natural wine came about as I noticed a shift in our industry toward lower alcohol, food friendly and low intervention wine. When I decided to start Breaking Bread, it was very important to me, artistically, to build something completely different than my first conception, Kokomo. I wanted to be challenged in my craft as a winemaker and I also wanted to understand fermentation from a different perspective that could possibly play a part in future Kokomo vintages.
Creating Breaking Bread has informed my approach to winemaking. I have the technical foundation and confidence of someone who has been making wine successfully for nearly two decades, and the curiosity and inspiration to make high quality, delicious natural wines – and this is just the beginning!
-Erik Miller, Owner/Winemaker
Bottle: $29 | Glass: $12
Casal de Ventozela ‘Contatto’
Grapes: Avesso
Place: Vihno Verde - Portugal
Process: Hand picked, de-stemmed, fermentation in 5,000L tanks, on the skins, for about 2 weeks. Left to settle for another 2 weeks then pressed into tank for 3 months on lees, with occasional battonage. Lightly fined and filtered. Minimal SO2.
Family: Casal de Ventozela consists of 45 hectares of sustainably farmed vineyards in the heart of the Vinho Verde region. The vines are located in two sub-regions: Vale do Ave and Vale do Covado. The estate is a family run business, with a strong focus on the environment and a genuine passion for wine and nature. Ventozela has a noble history dating back to 1874. A century later, it was acquired by the current director of the company, Jose Ferrera Cortinhas, who was responsible for resurrecting the estate following the April 25 revolution in 1974. The winery first started selling its grapes and in 2008, its first wines were bottled.
Bottle: $23 | Glass: $9
Gonc ‘Grape Abduction’
Grapes : Pinot Blanc, Pinot Grigio, Riesling
Place : Stajerska - Slovenia.
Process : Sustainably farmed and Native Yeast Fermentation. Stainless Steel
Family : The Grape Abduction wines are a collaboration with Gônc Winery in Slovenia and they are the newest find of ridiculously awesome wine that outperforms its price. They realized that there was one special place on this planet with the perfect conditions to grow wine fit for the tastes of space: Stajerska, Slovenia. Grapes as diverse as Pinot Blanc, Pinot Noir, Pinot Grigio, Riesling and even the hard-to-pronounce ones (we're looking at you, Žametna Črnina) thrive in the harsh environment of these rocky hills. Made entirely by ... erm, hand... and treated with the highest degrees of technology and care, they have created three wines that truly give you the taste of the cosmos. Space juice, if you will. And if you ever found yourself gazing up the sky and asking: do aliens make wine? Now, you have your answer.
Bottle: $25 | Glass: $10