2019 Late Harvest Riesling
Tasting Notes
Our 2019 Late Harvest Riesling displays enticing aromatics of lemon candy, tangerines, and guava. Flavors are thick on the palate with expressive flavors of raw honey, white peaches, and apricot jam. The mouthfeel is a harmonious balance of the wine’s natural acidity and bountiful residual sugar that exits the palate with flavors of cantaloupe and candied pineapples that finishes clean and crisp. Enjoy now through 2047. (Sweet wines have an amazing age potential!)
Awards
93 Points by Owen Bargreen, Certified Sommelier, Formerly the Senior Editor at the International Wine Report
Vineyard Designation
100% Estate Grown
Vintage Notes
The 2019 vintage threw everything it could at us winemakers. The year started off with a very mild winter, then out of nowhere, we saw record snow accumulations in late February that lasted until early March. Thankfully, this did not affect buds on the dormant grapes, but it did delay bud break; about 2 weeks later than normal. In turn, this also delayed the overall ripening process. Although we did see a decent amount of heat accumulation, 2019 will go down as a cooler vintage for Washington State. Not only did we have these challenges to overcome, but our typically amazing October was also very trying for us. We experienced two freezing periods that made our winemaking decisions ever more challenging. The frosts resulted in damage to all our grapes. As seasoned winemakers, we took this challenge head on and decided to purchase some brand new state of the art equipment including an optical sorter that would eject bad and damaged grapes before any of these grapes went into a fermenter or press. The new equipment worked amazing for us, and we were very pleased with the results in the wines. The wines from this vintage are going to be more consumer-friendly with higher acidity and lower alcohols, but the fruit aspect is exceptional.
Winemaking Notes
Our Late Harvest Riesling was hand harvest in early November and then sent to a cold facility where the grapes were kept at 0 degrees for 7 weeks. This allows the grapes to become completely frozen and thus increases the sugar content quite considerably. Harvest at 23.5 brix, then frozen to increase the sugar level to 38.4 brix. The grapes were then slowly pressed as they are ice cubes over a period of 2 days, the quantities are exceptionally low, but the quality is extremely high. After a very lengthy pressing, the juice was then settled out and clean racked before fermentation. We inoculated with a special yeast strain meant for late harvest wines and fermented the wine at 58 degrees. A slow and cool fermentation creates the wines beautiful tropical flavors, and we want to make sure we achieve our alcohol goals and be able to stop the fermentation with a lot of remaining natural sugar. Once fermentation was seized, the wines lees were stirred twice a month for two months, this process gives the wines more roundness and texture.
* Produced in a Vegan Manner (No animal biproducts used in production of this wine)
Food Pairing
Blue Cheese
Crème Brûlée
Fig, Apricot or Peach Desserts
Cheesecake
Apple Pie
- Appellation: Yakima Valley
- Cases Produced: 417 cases
- Alcohol: 9%
- pH: 3.42
- Acidity: 7.2 g/L
- RS: 20.2%
- Ageability: Now through 2047