Ampelos – Albarino Orange – Santa Barbara

Description

Overview: The wine making goal for the Orange Albarino is to retain the flavors of the freshly picked fruit and not to mask it with oak or other distracting components. As opposed to white wine making, where we press the grapes the day of harvest to separate the juice from skins, seeds and stems, we treated these grapes just like they were red grapes: they were destemmed into one of our fermenters and left on their skinsafter destemming they cold soaked for 3 days with two daily pump-overswe let the fermenters reach room temperature after which the natural, wild fermentations kicked in. no man-made yeast we just let nature do her job. The fermenters were hand punched twice a day to facilitate optimal extraction of colors, tannins and flavors. the flavors during fermentation were awesome! tannins in white wines? yes! After completed primary fermentation we drained the free run to tank and gently pressed the restwhen the wine had settled for a few days, we racked it to stainless barrelswe did not start the secondary fermentation (malolactic) we like the crisp malic acidthe wine is a little cloudy from the skin fermentation we decided not to filter it its a funky town wine!

Tasting Notes: Cloudy in the glass, this skin-contact take on Albario will satisfy orange wine lovers but may be challenging for others. Aromas of rust, orange peel, wet stone and apricot show on the nose, while the palate’s thicker mouthfeel carries flavors of dried apple and lemon.

Pairing:Duck, goose, and game birds

Points: 88, Wine Enthusiast

Format/ABV: 750 ml/13.9%

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