2021 EVA MAE CUVÉE SPARKLING WINE
Gold Medal ~ San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition
Our family wine project was founded with the 2018 vintage as a way to honor a heritage family vineyard near Fresno. That has been done annually with our flagship Rosé of Grenache. In 2021 Brett and Brianna brought Eva Mae into our family. We decided to honor her with the creation of a “birthdate” sparkling wine from the same heritage vineyard block.
In 2020 Brett made a barrel of still white wine from the red Grenache grapes that we released as Blanc de Grenache. This well-received wine provided the model for our sparkling cuvée’s base wine. After six months on the primary lees in Neutral French oak wine barrels, the wine was transferred to Rack & Riddle, the preeminent custom sparkling wine facility in Northern California, for the traditional second fermentation in the bottle (Methode Champenois). The wine was riddled and disgorged in November 2023 after 18 months on the lees. Prior to disgorgement the decision of how much sugar to add back is the key winemaking decision. We knew we wanted a crisp, dry style. Our two tasting panels settled on 4.00 g/L of this wine as best showing off the positive attributes of the wine. However, these wine professionals were all enamored with the sample that had no sugar added to the "top off" addition to the bottle. Hence, a small portion of Eva Mae's Cuvée was finished with no added sugar. This is designated as "Zero Dosage".
TECHNICAL DATA
Harvest Date – August 16, 2021
Harvest Brix – 23.3 ̊
Residual Sugar – 4.00 g/L (0.40%)
Alcohol – 12.85%
Titratable Acidity – 7.8 g/L
pH – 3.21
Riddled and Disgorged - November 2023
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Gold Medal ~ San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition
Our family wine project was founded with the 2018 vintage as a way to honor a heritage family vineyard near Fresno. That has been done annually with our flagship Rosé of Grenache. In 2021 Brett and Brianna brought Eva Mae into our family. We decided to honor her with the creation of a “birthdate” sparkling wine from the same heritage vineyard block.
In 2020 Brett made a barrel of still white wine from the red Grenache grapes that we released as Blanc de Grenache. This well-received wine provided the model for our sparkling cuvée’s base wine. After six months on the primary lees in Neutral French oak wine barrels, the wine was transferred to Rack & Riddle, the preeminent custom sparkling wine facility in Northern California, for the traditional second fermentation in the bottle (Methode Champenois). The wine was riddled and disgorged in November 2023 after 18 months on the lees. Prior to disgorgement the decision of how much sugar to add back is the key winemaking decision. We knew we wanted a crisp, dry style. Our two tasting panels settled on 4.00 g/L of this wine as best showing off the positive attributes of the wine. However, these wine professionals were all enamored with the sample that had no sugar added to the "top off" addition to the bottle. Hence, a small portion of Eva Mae's Cuvée was finished with no added sugar. This is designated as "Zero Dosage".
TECHNICAL DATA
Harvest Date – August 16, 2021
Harvest Brix – 23.3 ̊
Residual Sugar – 4.00 g/L (0.40%)
Alcohol – 12.85%
Titratable Acidity – 7.8 g/L
pH – 3.21
Riddled and Disgorged - November 2023
DOWNLOAD TECH SHEET
Eva Mae meeting the Riddler. Dosage tasting ~ Determining the ideal sugar addition level.
