Dissident – Skin Contact Field Blend 2023
Tasting Notes
On the nose citrus lemongrass and spice and on the palate riverstones and citrus with soft tannins. Fermenting these three white varieties together on their skins and bottling them without filtering or fining makes for a gentle red-like white – especially on the palate. Drink gently chilled with sushi.
Vintage
We had a very wet winter (between June and September) and a cool wet spring, which tested the mettle of our in-house viticulturist/ vigneron, AKA Joch. As a result of these trying conditions, vintage started later than in previous years (we picked Chardonnay on the 15th February in #v2023) and we had much smaller volumes than in 2022 or 2021. We had a few warm days in January and February and picked the whites quite quickly, then about 10mm of rain in early March which settled the dust and stopped picking for a little while. Despite the smaller vintage, the quality of grapes was excellent across both red and white varieties.
Winemaking
Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay (with a dash of Muscat à Petit Grains, AKA Red Frontignac) were picked together and co-fermented on skins for about 5 days. The juice was pressed off skins before it had finished fermentation. Once fermented, ‘Dissident’ went through ‘malo’ (Malolactic Fermentation or MLF, google it) before being bottled un-fined and unfiltered. No time in oak for the Dissident.
Sauvignon Blanc 47% Chardonnay 46% Muscat à Petits Grains 7%
Technical Details
Vineyards: Edgehill, Denton’s and Braden’s.
Picking Date: Chardonnay 23th February, Sauvignon Blanc 27th February and Red Fronti AKA Muscat 23rd February 2023
Alc/Vol: 12.5%
Bottling Date: 11 August 2023