Enology

Varietals

Whites

For the most part, the steep slopes and rocky soils of Spring Mountain are best suited to bring out the best in red wine grapes and our first intention was to produce only red wine from the estate.

Spring Mountain VineyardWe had a small strip of Sauvignon Blanc in a canyon near the winery at Miravalle, naturally, we made it into wine our first year, 1993. We did a simple barrel fermentation in well extracted white French oak barrels and separately a batch entirely in stainless steel.

We were struck by a couple of unusual qualities that the wine showed in both wine lots. The grape aroma of the fruit from the estate has distinct floral qualities. It lacked the common and typical grassy, Sauvignon Blanc aroma. The wine's structure was crisp and angular in youth, but with a bit of barrel age sur lie richer more oily textures showed up. As the wine has aged in the bottle the aroma has turned into a perfume that sometimes resembles honey and other times a sweet floral bouquet. The wines texture has softened into a rich satisfying finish. It is more like Graves than Napa Valley.

This experience was confirmed by subsequent vintages and we think there is a chance that we can produce something astounding from Sauvignon Blanc. Our objective is to make the finest wine from this variety anywhere. To accomplish this we have taken a unique approach to the vineyard and special steps in the winery.

We have planted additional Sauvignon Blanc on moderate slopes in the coolest part of our vineyard. It is in a canyon below one of our best Cabernet blocks. It is planted in meter by meter spacing and trained to a vertical gobelet. Sitting in the middle of this planting is an immense,one hundred year old fig tree. The vineyard block is naturally called "Fig Tree."

About our Sauvignon Blanc