Six bottles of sauvignon blanc from the Honig estate at different levels of fermentation. From grapes picked yesterday to two weeks ago, we tasted thru each level of the process and brix.
Winemaker Ms Kristen Belaire and Master Sommelier Robert Bath
the unfiltered, yeast filled juice on the way thru its fermentation journey.
Glass 1: Juice pressed yesterday at 24° Brix. whole cluster fermentation. Sourced from Wooden Valley (eastern part of Napa Valley, which is warmer in the summer and cooler in the winter than Rutherford, the estate’s home turf.) Aromas of fresh wet grass, cucumber and flavors of peach, mango, guava, honey. Tart but sweet.
Glass 2: Juice pressed 3 days ago with extended skin contact, VL-3 yeast added yesterday. Around 23° brix. Huge nose of raw sourdough, lime, S02, kiwi, cucumber water. Really thick and creamy.
Glass 3: Yeast added 3 days ago, and just starting to ferment (using a slow starter yeast). Grapes are from the Oak Knoll district (cooler, south Napa) where vineyard manager does a lot of leafing so the grapes get more exposure to the sun. Fermented at 55°F and already down to 22.8°brix. Notes of cider, bread dough, and still sweet with a light spritz.
Glass 4: Its been 10 days since these Rutherford grapes have been pressed and the VL3 yeast is working it. Lots of CO2, and the texture is like grapefruit soda mixed with Japanese Calpico. Creamy, banana, still sweeter but much more tart like French lemonade. By now the juice is half-wine, with 6% ABV and down to about 10.5° Brix.
Glass 5: These Oak Valley grapes were pressed 9 days ago with X-5 yeast which is a little slower. There is more alcohol content at this stage and the wine is now at about 13.5-14% abv, and down to only 1.5° brix. This will be a high ABV wine when finished. Still creamy and bready, but with a sour, bitter, lemon-rind-like component.
Glass 6: Using the Alchemy-1 yeast, this Oak Knoll juice was pressed on 10 days ago and is already at -0.6°Brix and over 14%abv. This is very sour and tart and not a ton of fruit, but more herbal and high acid (around 8g/l). Smells like sauvignon blanc infused with jalepenos. Very refreshing and still cloudy. Like homemade lemonade with very minimal sugar. Only three more days to go til this is wine!
Honig will start the non-Estate bottlings of these guys around January.
The finished product (of last vintage), to the right.
(last photo courtesy of J.m. Woody van Horn, CS)
