This wine has the earthy notes I am learning St. Laurent likes to show and also the juicy fruity lifted tones that come from a carbonic maceration.
Luke’s note on winemaking: “I was trying to decide what to do with it and I decided that I did need to create a little bit of flavor with it. During the ferment I thought I needed something to give it that little extra push. So that’s when I decided to do carbonic. I did 33% carbonic in 2019. Probably the hardest thing to do is not be anxious about your ferment. Because that’s when the grapes are the most fragile is right before it kicks off. You could get spoilage yeast, any number of things could happen. So that was kind of a little bit of a leap of faith.
Every year is all about experimenting with what you can.”
This wine was allowed to ferment natively and aged in a neutral oak puncheon and two stainless steel drums.
110 cases produced.
2019 Filomena St. Laurent, Ricci Vineyard
$24.00
If you have been a member of Ownroot for a while, you will remember Dale Ricci of Ricci Vineyards who is the man behind the only block of St. Laurent in the country. (Save for a block we just learned about in Oregon that was stolen from Dale in the dead of the night, which we discussed at length at our tasting and if you want to know more about just ask.) The history and passion behind Ricci Vineyard is legendary to say the least, and Dale is a pioneer and champion for the underdogs in all ways.
This St. Laurent budwood was brought back from Germany by a friend of Dale’s and planted into his experimental block which at the time boasted 9 or 10 different varieties. They liked the St. Laurent so much they budded the whole block over to it and he now has plans to add an additional 13 acred of St. Laurent vines to the farm.
The best description I have heard for St. Laurent is that is is like Pinot Noir gone backpacking and that seems pretty accurate to me.