2022 Estate White

2022 arrived nearly a month earlier than 2021, driven by La Niña and a fast summer ripening curve. The team picked ahead of an intense Labor Day heat wave to preserve balance across the vineyard.

La Niña accelerated the 2022 season, bringing the white harvest nearly a month earlier than the year before. Grenache Blanc was picked on August 15, followed by Picpoul and Roussanne three days later, before the Labor Day heatwave. The early harvest preserved freshness while allowing a rounder, more generous fruit profile.

The 2022 Estate White leans hardest on Grenache Blanc, at 60% its largest share of any vintage, with Picpoul's acidity holding the frame and a 6% touch of Roussanne adding aromatic depth. A warm, fast season shaped the blend's broadest, most textural expression.

Cellar work is deliberately restrained. Whole clusters are pressed gently and only free-run juice is carried forward. Fermentation is initiated by native yeasts in neutral French oak barriques, with no malolactic conversion, and the wine ages on its lees in the same neutral oak before bottling without fining.

The warmest season of the early vintages produced the richest white in estate history: 13.8% alcohol with the softest acid profile of the range. The chemistry reads as warmth and presence rather than tension, yet the mountain's acid line keeps it far from flabby.

Amplitude and depth. Jasmine, honeysuckle, and Asian pear open into cherimoya and melon rind, with stone fruit, clover honey, orange zest, and grilled pineapple on a wide, polished palate that finishes with oily viscosity and a lick of salt.