Brut Scandalous Cuvee #12

This is our 8th release of 12 sparkling wines under the Saint Gregory brand. My wife Trudi and I are great lovers of sparkling wine, especially French Champagne. As I began to formulate the recipe for our sparkling wines I looked to not only the tradition of Champagne but also to the tradition of sparkling wine from all over the world. To make our sparkling wine rich and unique, we decided to barrel ferment the “base wine” similar to some of the greatest French Champagnes like Krug and Bollinger and to use Pinot Blanc like the great sparkling wines in northern Italy, like Ca del Bosco and Bella Vista.
The grapes for our Saint Gregory Brut Scandalous come exclusively from the beautiful high elevation Potter Valley at the head waters of the Russian River in Mendocino County in our Nube Bianco Vineyard. We believe this is a truly unique and quality region for sparkling wines with its clay rich soils, high elevation, large differential in its day and night temperatures, and the late season ripening of its grapes. 33% of this wine is Arneis, 33% is Pinot Blanc and 34% is Pinot Gris from our Nube Bianco Vineyard located above the Russian River near the entrance of the valley.
All the grapes were whole cluster pressed and 100% barrel fermented and sur-lie aged in neutral French Burgundy barrels for 6 months without malo-lactic fermentation. The wines were then blended, fined, filtered and cold stabilized. The wine was then bottled with the addition of yeast and sugar with a crown cap and the bottles were laid to rest in metal bins for a scandalous 8 years on their sides (tirage) or also called Sur-latte. Here is where the second fermentation occurs, which give sparkling wine its fascinating bubbles and its yeasty-toasty character. The longer the yeast are in the bottles the more they breakdown (autolysis) and the yeastier toasty character they give the wine. Also, this extended ageing gives the wine extremely fine and persistent bubbles. This time in tirage also extends the life span of the wine in the bottle. After this aging the wine is placed in a riddling machine where all the spent yeast is moved into the neck of the bottle. Once finish with this process, the bottles are placed neck down in a freezing bath, the caps are removed and the yeast are expelled (disgorged) from the bottle and the bottles are filled (dosage) with a measured amount of sugar and wine, also called the liqueur d’ expedition and corked and covered with a wire hood and a capsule to prevent the corks from popping out.
Our Saint Gregory Brut is not only a wonderful celebratory wine and aperitif, but also a great food wine because of its dryness, pairing well with soft creamy cheeses, roasted chicken and number of seafood dishes, such as grilled halibut or smoked salmon with crème fraiche and caviar.

Blend: 35% Pinot Gris, 34% Pinot Blanc, 31% Arneis
Cases Produced: 240
Alcohol: 12.5%
Acidity: 1.04 g/100ml
PH: 2.83
Residual Sugar: 1.0% (Brut)