Vin Gris de Cigare 2020

"It's really the Grenache that dominates this blend; Grenache in a cool vintage is nothing if not an extraordinary blessing. One finds olfactorily the usual suspects: wild strawberry, peach, guava and rhubarb and very discreet scent of white pepper. We have continued the practice of leaving the wine post-fermentation on its lees to great effect; the wine has a wonderful creaminess and length on the palate in virtue of this enlightened practice."

As far as particular winemaking practices that inform the Bonny Doon Vineyard aesthetic: We work extensively with yeast lees – stirring and stirring like the Weird Sisters – and follow the Tantric practice of lees conservation, the retention of the Precious Substance, allowing it to become digested into the wine. At a minimum, the autolysate of the lees releases mannoprotein in the wine, imparting a creamier texture, some degree of minerality, glutamate from the yeast cells (imparting a wonderful savory or umami character) and perhaps an enhanced anti-oxidative potential. Lees are truly the soul of the wine, its Jiminy Cricket, as it were; they carry a memory of everywhere the wine has been.

5 months in stainless steel "Sur lie"