Grower: En Cavale
Region: Etna, California, USA
Grape Varieties: Sauvignon Blanc, Verdelho, Albariño and Fiano
Viticulture: Organic
Category: White, Skin-Contact Orange
Size: 750 ml
En Cavale is a collaboration between our good friends and colleagues (and also both at one point our entire Bay Area sales operation), Wolfgang Weber and Chad Hinds (Iruai). Their idea was to team up and make soulful, yet accessible expressions of old-school Californian wine with a hat tip to many of their favorite wines from France and Italy. All of the fruit is sourced from organically-farmed vineyards and extreme care is practiced in the cellar with native yeasts carrying out fermentations, sulfur additions kept to a minimum (if any are made at all), and no filtration.
A blend of Sauvignon Blanc, Verdelho, Albariño and Fiano, all fermented on their skins for about three to four weeks. Sauv Blanc is all from Contra Costa County, and aside from about 4 weeks skin contact during fermentation, it sees elevage in acacia barrels (new - 6 years old). Verdelho goes into used french oak after 3-4 weeks on the skins; Albarino and Fiano were cofermented and pressed off into tank (plastic) after 3-4 weeks on the skins. Blended around late February 2023, and settled in tank and neutral french barrel for a few weeks; bottled in April and then a second bottling in July.
