Current Release
- Vintage: 2010
- Appellation: Napa Valley
- Composition: 100% Sauvignon Blanc
- Release Date: April 30, 2011
Our 2010 Twomey Sauvignon Blanc is a single vineyard wine. The fruit is sourced from our estate vineyard surrounding our winery in Calistoga. Although this is a continental climate with little maritime influence, the proximity to the Napa River creates a cool microclimate that is ideal for growing aromatic white varieties. The vineyard is planted to a mixture of Sauvignon Blanc clones from California and France. A dry-farmed field selection, planted in 1980, delivers great richness and depth to the blend. Our vineyard is sustainably farmed.
Winemaker's Notes
Our 2010 Twomey Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc has a light straw-yellow color and a dynamic nose of honeydew melon, citrus blossoms, white jonquil, guava, custard apple and pie crust. It has beautiful acid balance, great mouthfeel without heaviness and a long clean finish redolent of lime zest and mascarpone.
Vintage Description
The 2010 growing season was one of the coolest in California history with only a few heat waves in August to remind us that we were indeed in California. These unusual conditions caused the grapes to ripen three weeks late and allowed our Sauvignon Blanc to retain bright acidity and develop beautiful aromatics at moderate alcohol.
Winemaking
Our philosophy in producing Sauvignon Blanc is to balance the inherent citrus, tropical fruit and mineral characters and complement them with a subtle hint of oak. In 2010, the decision to harvest early was crucial to attaining perfect flavor development, bright acidity and moderate alcohol. We fermented using a variety of yeasts from France, Australia and the United States that have been proven to accentuate the flavors of Sauvignon Blanc. The fermentation vessels we used were a mixture of 60-gallon French oak barrels, 132-gallon French oak puncheons, 60-gallon stainless steel drums to duplicate barrel fermentation without the oak, and stainless steel tanks to preserve freshness. We eschewed malolactic fermentation in order to preserve the bright acidity and stirred the lees every two weeks to add mid-palate weight. We bottled in March using Stelvin screw cap closures.
