Cochon 2014 Grenache Blanc

The organically grown grapes for this wine come from the Vista Luna Vineyard located in the Borden Ranch Appellation of Eastern Lodi. Vista Luna benefits from an long growing season due to the influence of cool afternoon breezes off the Delta and out of the Sierra’s. These cooling breezes, combined with the gentle rolling hills, the red gravely loam and cobbly, rocky and quartz strewn soils and the warm, sunny days make for ideal growing conditions for this rare Rhone variety. The climate and soils are both very similar to its Rhone counerpart. Markus Bokisch planted Vista Luna Vineyard to a selection of Spanish and Rhone varietals in 2005. Markus brought back old vine cuttings from the tiny Southern Rhone village of Rasteau for his original planting of Grenache Blanc, Marsanne and Roussanne at Terra Alta Vineyard. We take all the fruit from the scarce 70 total mature vines that I happened to stumble upon a couple of years back while checking on our Viognier block at Terra Alta. Grenache Blanc grapes from the rolling hills at Vista Luna Vineyard come from vines grafted to the Rasteau clone planted at Terra Alta. The grapes were grown organicallywithout the use of herbicides or pesticides.

Alcohol: 13.7%

The grapes were picked early in the morning and arrived perfectly ripe and ice cold. We whole-cluster pressed the grapes, which went directly into a small stainless steel tank for primary fermentation at 50 degrees. Fermentation took approximately four weeks and the wine was then transferred to neutral French oak Hogsheads or Hogs as we call them and why the wine is named Cochon, “Hog”, in French for aging. A small portion of the wine, about 10%, was allowed to go through malo-lactic fermentation to give the wine a bit of mouthfeel and complexity on the palate. We prevented the remainder of the wine from going through malo to insure we retained its fresh, crisp acidity.

A vibrant, bright golden color, displays enticing aromas of acacia flowers, honeysuckle, ripe pineapple and guava fruit, chalky, mineral notes as well as beeswax, banana oil and toasted almond. On the palate it displays a lively acidity that balances the rich, tropical flavors and savory stone fruits with dusty mineral and cream, which lead to a lengthy, rounded and complex, refreshing finish.