Certified both CCOF Organic and Demeter Biodynamic, the vines for this Chenin Blanc hail from the Stolpman Estate in Ballard Canyon. The grapes are gently pressed before fermentation, which takes place in new, light-toast 500-litre Ermitage Mt. La Vache French oak puncheons, where the wine is then aged for 15 months. It’s such a pretty wine—so layered, so enticing, and so intriguing you’ll wish you had bought a full case (and hopefully, you did). Medium-bodied and a true salty dog, it crackles with saline-acid tension that energizes this electrically vibrant white. It practically lists the tasting notes for you: sea salt sprinkled atop candied lemon peel, subtler hints of ripe apricot and white peach, and zesty seagrass growing on sand dunes pounded by Pacific Ocean breezes. The mid-palate reveals elegant touches of citrus fruit tinged with vanilla bean, layered with Marcona almonds, and drizzled with agave nectar. It’s long, linear, and vividly zesty—with such bracing acidity your dentist might advise caution. Best enjoyed with food—it slices beautifully through roast chicken or Dover sole with buttery mashed potatoes.

Notes from the Winery:

In 2016, we sought out a rare strain of “yellow” Chenin Blanc that turns color before it reaches peak ripeness. Once yellow, the resulting wine becomes substantial and mouth-filling rather than creating a leaner, crisper style. We spent six vintages refining our winemaking approach to Chenin Blanc under our experimental “Combe” label before debuting the grandiose 2023 vintage. Healthy late season rains pushed back bud-break and the growing season by 3-4 weeks. We escaped the summer without any extreme heat events that would have accelerated ripening. On September 29th, La Cuadrilla made a pass through the Chenin and harvested any remaining green clusters for Pet’Nat. Aided by unusually high daytime temperatures in early October, we returned to cherry pick evenly yellow clusters on October 5, and then finished the stragglers on October 9th.