Albariño, Natural Wines, and Native Yeast Fermentation for 2019
Autumn: for farmers it’s the season of well-deserved naps. A time when the work is (mostly) done and you can actually step back for a moment to catch your breath after months of picking, planting and toiling under that eternal, burning California sun. At the Boggs Market Farm our summers have always been busy, but the winery has added a special note of panic and, ok, excitement to the season’s to-do list. We finished our winery expansion construction and new crush pad just a week before the grapes were picked and delivered to the farm. Altogether we crushed seven tons and have plans for four new bottle releases in the coming seasons.
Our brand new winery expansion includes home-milled, cedar plank barn doors that slide fully open for access to the crush pad. Inside we have our stainless tanks for fermentation, as well as our cold case wine storage, leaving our original space free for equipment storage, lab equipment, and our barrel area.
Our favorite new varietal this year is the albariño, a Spanish white varietal similar to sauvignon blanc. We’ve loved albariño for a long time, but its recent growth in popularity in California meant we could finally source it from a vineyard close to home. Coming from a small, organic vineyard in Lodi, the albariño is showing big, bright tropical aromas of mango and pineapple, with a mineral driven salinity at the finish. It’s perfect for pairing with lighter dishes or for any-season daytime drinking…we judge not lest we be judged.
The rest of the 2019 vintage is made up of a Rhone varietal co-ferment of grenache, syrah and mourvedre, with some syrah held separately for an additional blend we’ll be crafting next season. We also crushed one ton of carignan, half pitched with conventional yeast and half left to ferment with native yeasts, making it our first foray into natural wine. So far the natural carignan has proven complex, smooth and bone dry just 10 days after crushing. Coming to one full barrel, the natural experiment will be a very limited release so long as we can keep from drinking it all ourselves.
We spent every weekend this summer working the Amador Farmers Market in Pine Grove and Sutter Creek. Despite the heat, the market was the perfect opportunity to meet with new customers, old neighbors, and make connections with lots of new farmers and friends. Pictured is our usual table set up complete with both medals we earned this summer for the 2017 primitivo: a silver at the Orange County Commercial Wine Competition for our wine label design, and a bronze at the Amador County Fair for the primitivo division.
As always, we hope this post finds you well and look forward to sharing more with you soon! In the meantime, don't be a stranger. We're on Facebook, Instagram, and available by email so don't hesitate to reach out and let us know how you're doing.
Until next time,
The Boggs Family at Tabeaux Cellars
