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TASTING NOTES
Like the first flower of spring, an orchard full of “nashi no hana” springs out of the glass. Aromas of grapefruit citrus-blossom, and fresh baked vanilla-caramel ladyfingers ride the pinpoint bubbles up into your senses. Prospero in a glass. The flavor is a parquetry of Nashi pear, citrus blossom honey with an extra juicy, crème puff center. The finish is long lasting and fresh fruited, while retaining an amazing mineral structure throughout. This is one of the most exciting sparkling wines made in Argyle’s 20 years!
PRODUCTION NOTES
The 2002 vintage was one of those nerve crunching, hang in at the plate until you work up to a full count, then smack a sweet fastball right out of the park! Translation: An unsettling growing season with a smashing finish. A warm but unsettled Spring wrought large clusters but with the diversity of berry size we like to see—what we call “peas and pumpkins”. Just as in 2001, we were required to drastically drop clusters in August, leaving one to no clusters per vine shoot. In late September and early October we had a couple of rain scares dropping up to a ½ inch of rain each event. On October 5th the prediction was two inches rain in a week’s time! Luckily, a fine fall Indian Summer settled in. We were able to pick fruit at its peak of ripeness under sunny skies and with limited chaos on the crush pad. The grapes were hand picked into small baskets. The fruit was first chilled to 35 degrees F before gentle, whole fruit pressing to extract just the “heart of the grape” juice from the berries. After settling the cold juice over a period of several weeks, clear, fresh juice was fermented using one of Argyle’s proprietary yeasts. A judicious amount of barrel and malo-lactic fermentation was employed to help build creamier textures and mouth rewarding complexities. Bottle aged on the yeast for four years, our flagship wine is disgorged on demand to ensure it’s appealing freshness.
STATS
10,131 cases produced 12.0 % alcohol by volume
Harvest Dates: October 25-30, 2002 Brix at Harvest: 18.5 - 20.5
Like the first flower of spring, an orchard full of “nashi no hana” springs out of the glass. Aromas of grapefruit citrus-blossom, and fresh baked vanilla-caramel ladyfingers ride the pinpoint bubbles up into your senses. Prospero in a glass. The flavor is a parquetry of Nashi pear, citrus blossom honey with an extra juicy, crème puff center. The finish is long lasting and fresh fruited, while retaining an amazing mineral structure throughout. This is one of the most exciting sparkling wines made in Argyle’s 20 years!
PRODUCTION NOTES
The 2002 vintage was one of those nerve crunching, hang in at the plate until you work up to a full count, then smack a sweet fastball right out of the park! Translation: An unsettling growing season with a smashing finish. A warm but unsettled Spring wrought large clusters but with the diversity of berry size we like to see—what we call “peas and pumpkins”. Just as in 2001, we were required to drastically drop clusters in August, leaving one to no clusters per vine shoot. In late September and early October we had a couple of rain scares dropping up to a ½ inch of rain each event. On October 5th the prediction was two inches rain in a week’s time! Luckily, a fine fall Indian Summer settled in. We were able to pick fruit at its peak of ripeness under sunny skies and with limited chaos on the crush pad. The grapes were hand picked into small baskets. The fruit was first chilled to 35 degrees F before gentle, whole fruit pressing to extract just the “heart of the grape” juice from the berries. After settling the cold juice over a period of several weeks, clear, fresh juice was fermented using one of Argyle’s proprietary yeasts. A judicious amount of barrel and malo-lactic fermentation was employed to help build creamier textures and mouth rewarding complexities. Bottle aged on the yeast for four years, our flagship wine is disgorged on demand to ensure it’s appealing freshness.
STATS
10,131 cases produced 12.0 % alcohol by volume
Harvest Dates: October 25-30, 2002 Brix at Harvest: 18.5 - 20.5