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Wine Details
Price:
$29.00 per bottle
Description:
Made in the spirit of the “Super Friulian” white blends of Northeast Italy, our 2003 Vino Bianco is dry, complex, aromatic full-bodied and unique. This well-balanced white wine combines the best of four varieties and alternates between flavors of tree fruit, citrus fruit, stone fruit and tropical fruit with strains of both high-toned mineral and base-toned earth components running through. This year’s blend is composed of 29% Sauvignon Blanc fermented in stainless steel and older oak barrels, 28% Chardonnay (Dijon 96 clone) fermented in a stainless steel tank, 28% Pinot Grigio fermented in stainless steel barrels, 10% Chardonnay (“Musque” clone) fermented in new French oak, and 5% Tocai Friulano fermented in four year old French oak. The Sauvignon Blanc and Musque Chardonnay are from the North Fork, and the Pinot Grigio, Tocai and Dijon Chardonnay are from our Estate Vineyards here on the South Fork; this is why the wine carries a general Long Island appellation. All these different sources and ingredients – vineyards, grape varieties, fermentation vessels, type of oak, time on lees – helps us blend a wine of character, balance, finesse and complexity.
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Varietal Definition
Chardonnay:
Chardonnay is by far the most widely planted grape crop in California and dominates California’s cooler, coastal, quality wine regions. The natural varietal ‘taste and smell’ of Chardonnay is surprisingly unfamiliar to many wine drinkers, as its true character is often guised with dominating winemaking signatures. Chardonnay’s rather subdued primary fruit characteristics lean toward the crisp fruitiness of apples, pears and lemon, but the variety’s full body is capable of supporting a host of complementary characteristics, such as oak, butter and vanilla. Regardless of what is the appropriate style for Chardonnay, the varietal continues to dominate vineyard plantings in every corner of the world. Close attention to clonal selection has made this broad geographic and climactic range of Chardonnay viable in thoughtful viticultural hands.
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Sauvignon Blanc:
Sauvignon Blanc is widely grown in California — at over 15,000 acres, it’s now the third most planted variety — and often assumes the moniker ‘Fume Blanc’. This popular synonym, credited to Napa’s Robert Mondavi, derives from the grape’s historic home of Pouilly in France’s Upper Loire Valley, where Sauvignon Blanc is the dominant varietal and goes locally by the name of ‘Blanc Fumé’. When treated with respect and afforded suitable growing conditions, Sauvignon Blanc is one of the wine world’s darlings. Steely, racy acidity, green, gooseberry fruit, asparagus and a grassy, herbaceous character characterize dry wines made from this grape.
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Tocai Friulano:
Widely grown in the Fruili region of Italy. Also to be found in Argentina. Thought to be identical with the Sauvignon Vert grape grown in Chile. Used to produce lightbodied white wines with flowery and nut-like flavors and should be drunk when young.
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