Inspired by the Italian Passito style, Ben has crafted a fruit driven sticky with less botrytis characteristics and more of a typical Viognier character.
Indeed a fresh, fragrant style, crisp over the palate and sticky to the end! Carefully hand-picked into small crates and stacked to allow free air flow, the grapes were left for 3 weeks to dry out. Hence rack, stacked and wrinkled! These late harvested Viognier winegrapes were then crushed with care, pressed with panache and the juice joyfully let into French barriques (20% new) and left on lees for six months.
As the ferment approached perfect taste pitch, the process was stopped. Yes, you can feel the zest, taste the Tangerine, and mouth the Marmalade. A perfect sticky ending!The grapes were dried in small perforated crates for 3 weeks in the Italian Passito style, then fermented and matured for 6 months in French barriques. Bright gold; it's a labour of love, with array of orange marmalade and apricot jam flavours cut by crisp acidity.