This is our 7th release of 12 new sparkling wines under the Saint Gregory brand.
This wine has beautiful aromas and flavors of ginger, Pink Lady Apples, yeast and flowers. Our Saint Gregory Brut Blanc de Noirs 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.
This is our seventh release of three 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 Blanc de Noirs (white of reds) come exclusively from the beautiful high elevation Potter Valley at the head waters of the Russian River in Mendocino County. 50% of this wine is Pinot Noir from our Nube Bianco Vineyard located above the Russian River near the entrance of the valley. The remaining 50 % is Pinot Meunier also from our Nube Bianco Vineyard.
All the grapes were whole cluster pressed and 100% barrel fermented and sur-lie aged in neutral French Burgundy barrels for 8 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 4.5 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 more yeasty toasty character they give the wine. Also, this extended ageing give the wine extremely fine and persistent bubbles. 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.
This wine has beautiful aromas and flavors of ginger, Pink Lady Apples, yeast and flowers. Our Saint Gregory Brut Blanc de Noirs 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: 50% Pinot Noir 50% Pinot Meunier
Cases Produced: 185
Alcohol: 12.5%
Acidity: 0.99 g/100ml
pH: 2.86
Residual Sugar: 1.0% (Brut)
