Just like our other wines, our Grenache Gris is picked into 35lb lug bins, transported to the winery in refrigerated trucks and moved along the sorting table and into the de-stemmer/crusher only after passing muster with at least 4 sorters. We de-stemmed, lightly crushed and then soaked on the skins for 36 hours at 55° F before pressing to barrel where both primary and secondary fermentation occurred. In 2005, the wine spent 4 1/2 months aging sur-lie in a mix of 60% neutral French oak and 40% stainless steel. Because we like to bottle this wine in the early spring to retain its fresh fruit character we inoculated for Malolactic Fermentation which would not have likely begun on its own until late spring when the cellar warms a bit.
Isabel’s cuvee is a medium to full bodied wine that is a brilliant, rich rose color with orange
undertones. It boasts intense, strawberry dominated red fruit aromas and delivers a crisp, flavorful
palette that might even be described as slightly rugged.
