2022 Sauvignon Blanc, Dry Stack Vineyard, Bennett Valley • St. Francis Winery & Vineyards

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2022

Sauvignon Blanc

Dry Stack Vineyard

Bennett Valley

Tasting Notes

This Sauvignon Blanc is a refreshing and lively wine with pineapple guava, lime zest, and lemon grass aromas. On the palate, the wine is crisp and fresh with citrus zest, papaya, and spice flavors. The distinctive zippy acidity from the Dry Stack Vineyard fruit gives the wine a quenching finish. A great wine to enjoy on a hot summer day.

Vintage Notes

The 2022 growing season started with early spring rains, followed by ideal weather through spring and late summer. Harvest began on August 15 with white and early ripening red varieties showing bright acidity and mouth-watering freshness. In September, a period of triple-digit heat over several days pushed maturity on the vines until a few days of rain provided a refreshing break and gave the later-ripening fruit some extra hang time to develop deep rich color, remarkable aromatics and exquisite flavors.

Vineyard Notes

Dry Stack Vineyard is located in Bennett Valley, in the shadow of Sonoma Mountain partway up the ridge that forms the western boundary of the AVA. The vineyard is quite rocky and the name Dry Stack is taken from the many dry stack stone walls on the property, built from the rocks that littered the site prior to it being a vineyard. Like much of the north coast, the soils are a combination of marine clays and lighter textured volcanic material. Due to the coolness of this site, the fruit from this vineyard is slow ripening, providing ample time to develop intense flavors.

Winemaker Notes

Picked at dawn, these grapes arrived cold and were carefully placed directly into our small bladder press. Free-run juice was collected and fermented slowly over 30 days, preserving the wonderful aromas of Sauvignon Blanc. 88% of the juice was fermented at 55F in stainless steel tank with balance being fermented in Acacia wood barrels for added aromatic complexity and added depth. We prevented malolactic fermentation to preserve the wine’s clean, crisp texture. The wine was aged for five months before bottling.